Making Pies and Veg


 


Ever since I became interested in miniatures my first impressions of items that at the time I thought looked wonderful, were quickly forgotten as I explored the miniature world on the Internet, and saw the works of numerous miniature artisans. While there are so many miniature items I could mention as wonderful works of art, miniature food artisans are some of my favorites to look at and admire (drool over).

As a miniaturist, albeit a very novice one, I will attempt to make things myself that I think I'll have half a chance at success at. So this summer I decided to gather all my supplies together and have a go at making miniature food out of fimo. I've had Angie Scarr's book of 'Making Miniature Food and Market Stalls' for many years, so I used this as a reference as well as the numerous tutorials I have gathered online.

I first started off making some pork pies as these are very traditional food items that would fit in both my Georgian and Victorian dollhouses. The difficulties I found was firstly keeping the clay clean, having two cats around, and secondly conditioning the clay by hand was hard work. I do have a pasta machine which I have used in the past, but I find that it leaves streaks on light coloured clay, so I made sure I had an abundance of baby wipes to clean my hands frequently as well as my work surfaces.



I made three pork pies and as I had some of the meat mixture left over I made some salami.



Here you can see the pies uncooked and without any colouring






Here I used chalk pastels (before cooking) to make the pie's look cooked and I also wanted the insides to be shown, so I cut small pieces from each of them. 










Finally these are the pies once cooked. You should be able to see the slight transparency between the meat mixture and the pastry, this was to show the jelly you get inside pork pies. I still have to varnish the pies which will give them a more realistic glaze.










A word of warning (see below)


My first attempt at making the pork pies went great until I put them in my oven and didn't check the temperature correctly. It was too high and this was the result, a disaster. I was really annoyed with myself for not checking the temperature, but fortunately I put it down to bad luck and persevered to make the pies I have just shown you.  







 At least I was able to laugh about my burnt pies. I will still keep them, as a reminder to always check my oven temperature.



On to making veg



 As my confidence grew I then moved on to making vegetables. 







Cauliflowers, swede, carrots, tomatoes, parsnips, beetroot, two sizes of potatoes  and onions. 



My cauliflower making needs more work, the leaves are too thick and curly and the colour is much too dark, they should be a lighter, more transparent green.











I found the whole process of making the vegetables very relaxing and therapeutic, while I know that they are no where near some of the ones I have seen online, I will still be able to use them in baskets or on food prep boards in my dollhouses. I also feel that I have started to learn a lot about mixing the different coloured clay together to get the desired shade, but also that I have a long way to go if I want true perfection.



An update


For those of you who have seen previous posts about my French dollhouse, I just wanted to show you some additions I have made to my attic room. I often have times when I make random items that take my fancy, and some of these have ended up in the attic of my French house. 

























It's my faviourite time of the year as it's Miniatura next weekend, I really can't wait. I have my list ready and hopefully I can get everything I want and then some.


Until the next time


Take care


Jayne x

Comments

Popular Posts