Chiffon Cake Madness

Orange Chiffon Cake Slice


so. i wanted to fiddle around a little more with baking ADC. regular readers probably know i am a little more than fixated on trying to achieve this, and as with all my experiments, i will not be giving out the formula as i am tweaking it. i can tolerate my own failures, but refuse to be held responsible for others' XD XD XD

also, the basic idea was generously provided by Tomohachi, who is always inspirational and creative with her works. (check out her blog, she's got updates! ^ ^ )

you can find my post introducing her, and her technique, here:
http://snowfern.com/2009/10/introducing-la-cocina-alegre-by.html

all i am doing is tweaking it such that i can use my oven instead of a microwave. i have also a previous post about the technique here:

http://snowfern.com/2010/02/biscotti-wish-i-had-coffee.html

so ya. don't ask me anymore about it. XD remember, experiments leave me in a right grumpy mood. ALL THAT WASTED CLAY!!!!


which is why i'm immensely pleased with this. the texture needs a little more tweaking, maybe more baking soda? i'm always a little hesitant to pump up the volume of the soda, but it's time to be braver XD


ITADAKIMASU! Yotsuba having a tea break with a glass of milo! XD


and while i was at it, i decided to bake up a lump of spare ADC. decided to tear this apart instead of the usual slicing, just to see how it'd look. i also deliberately charred the base a little, as you can see from the inverted half on the right. i think it lends a little more to the realism of it all.


bolstered by the earlier success, i tried again, but this time wasn't that successful :( but i'm still rather happy in that, it looks more like it was cut with a blunt knife XD or it could double as an angel food cake. really fuwa-fuwa (light and fluffy?)! bf said at first glance he thought it was a real one, and that made me really really pleased cos he's usually all "can't really see ley" when i show him my works. =3=

Grandma returned with a pandan chiffon cake after i made the orange one in the typical chiffon cake-type pan shape. so i decided to try another big-small attempt at it....


again, the bubbles weren't very co-operative. BUT! i really really love this result still! is it wrong to be this pleased with ones' own works? zomgzorz humble i am not zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz -_-" but but, i am really happy with it!!!!

after SOOO many failures, i am finally getting a rhythm going. and understanding better the process of baking ADC. so yeah i think i am -ok- with being this pleased LOL at least the clay graveyard isn't growing as fast as it used to.


also, here's Yotsuba again, taking a break from her abacus practice. a chance for me to show off some of my fellow TeamMIDS members' works!


table by the talented Ray, http://www.etsy.com/shop/minibuilder
cushions by the always lovely Dale, http://www.etsy.com/shop/dalesdreams
handpuppet by the irreverent and totally hilarious Becky, http://www.etsy.com/shop/beckynot

rest of the props are re-ment, yea the items are mostly 1:6 but since Yotsuba has large hands for a 1:12 girl (she's a tall 7 y/o i keep telling myself XD ) ((ok, so she's more of a 1:10 scale but whatever)), i think they fit her pretty ok. at least everything looks pretty to-scale to me.

oh, and the background is made by me too! ^ ^ i used mounting board, scrapbook papers, decorative wood edgings, lots of glue and quite a bit of messy painting. i need to make some curtains, or windows, or both, but my attempts at soldering have failed yet again (but i'm improving, slowly) so i guess i'll have to try again another day.


it's a reversible display :) slot it in facing the other way, and you see this! remember the texture paste experiment?

http://snowfern.com/2009/10/experiment-air-dry-clay-texture-paste.html
(oh crud i just realised in searching for the post that if you click on the "experiment" tag it doesn't show ALL of my experiments argh. need to fiddle a little more with the tags and settings grr. anyway i'll have to remember to transfer the DNS to point to blogger, FTP service will be discontinued in may :( )

ANYWAY, so i have this whole tub that i refuse to use anymore for meringues. it has served its purpose for experiments. so what do i do with it????

it becomes spackle. LOL. well it's not exactly a 'hole in the wall' but it served its purpose. gave it a wash of white cadmium paint....the mosaic tiles i really liked too. i think i will feature it a little more in my future works :)

wow. long post. so there you have it, my latest experiments and works. drop me a comment! tell me what you think, and suggestions on how to dress up my window or lack thereof :( i would really appreciate some ideas, i'm feeling like i'm running dry.....phew.....

Swan Cream Puff Madness

i had been wanting to make these for a while now, and the bug has bitten Asuka as well XD we're still waiting on Nyann for her version, which should be coming up soon :D

i love this pic. i think it's time for a new avatar XD

back view of the cream butt, as Asuka puts it XD

swan vs puffs. ok i'd originally planned to make more swans, but making the neck is such a chore, i wasted sooo much clay and only got 2 reasonably good ones. which is why you only see 2 different swan sizes XD


it all starts with the cream puff, yes? i hadn't realised how addictive/fun ADC is till i embarked on this project. i have another 24 cream puff blanks waiting to be coloured and turned into an army of swan puffs :P

sacrificed and turned a foam board thingy into a hedgehog. these days i try to take better shots early in the day (weather permitting) so that i don't have to fiddle around with the flimsy and sucky lightbox i made. i mean it works, but nothing beats natural light.

i have been meaning to do more big/small pics....this one is not all that accurate, but heck. i think they're cute :D i will refine it a little more, add a dash more colour.....that means i have to purchase more of these delish cherry buns hehehehe

ok. so that's what i've been up to lately. have more non-clay minis planned....i hope they work out well ; ;

g'nite :)

biscotti, wish i had coffee

i don't know what scale these would be suitable for. the first biscottis i'd tried were rock hard and approx 5-6 inches long, so these would mirror them in 1:12.

air dry clay + baking soda :) baked for 15 mins at approx 120 deg celcius. i used Daiso brand "lightweight" clay, using Tomohachi's recipe and adapted it for oven use. the results are inconsistent, so i'm glad these worked out the way i intended! hope to put them in a nice cookie jar soon as i get some time, gotta finish up some stuff and get the house clean!!

/panic on

More experiments and sushi

i tried and failed 4 times at molding this bugger with my alley goop. i'm thinking either 1) i didn't get the ratio right 2) it's too small a volume to mold properly 3) i didn't mix it well enough.

but when i did use a larger amount of molding compound, it still messed up. sigh. looks like i'll have to find another way to do this.

it's supposed to be a cookie/pineapple tart base :( the shiny stuff on it is the leftover silicone goop that seems to like to stick to it. :( i never have this problem when molding larger objects. so this is a major annoyance and waste of expensive silicone compound :( if i feel up to it, i might do a resin mold instead. the air dry one i made seems to be -ok- just that the details aren't as refined, and it's bound to deteriorate after i subject to the abuse intended for this 'project'.



well this experiment didn't turn out too badly. i tried out the polymer clay + thinner + baking soda method by Garie Sim and it seems to be working fairly well. the thinner is giving me a high though XD

the cakes are displayed on a plate painted by Petitplat which i received as part of a swap ^ ^ i have been really pampered lately, and will do a proper post on all the items i've received recently...





and progress on the commission i'm working on. these were the hardest to make of the whole commission. it accounts for why i've 'disappeared' somewhat the past few days. the different parts have to be mixed, baked, assembled, re-baked, individual grains of rice stuck on, re-baked, then the 'eggs' stuck on....i originally was going to make them approx 2cm wide, but realised that would be totally out of scake with regards to the crab stick. these are approx. 1/2" or 1.25cm wide, which translates to 1 1/2" or 3.75cm wide in real life (1:3 scale). i think this size works better with the rest of the sushi rolls....and hope my customer thinks the same too > <

Chinese New Year is approaching, and i'm still quite behind on my swaps and posts...i hope to be back on my personal projects soon i have soooooo many ideas teeming in my noggin!

more strawberry canes

so, the current commission calls for a coupla strawberry slices, and since i ran out of 1:4 ones, i had to make new slices. i tried making them a different way, yes, another failed experiment XD look at how disgusting it looks! thank goodness it's just the one slice, baked.


i can't take a good pic of the new slices. these 2 were test slices to see if the colours worked before i bake up the rest of the canes. actually, i think i'll refrain from baking them till i need 'em. need to store them safely out of the way though. it's slightly more translucent, and since i hadn't sliced these thinly (the ends are a bit wonky) i think the thinner slices would be perfect.


letting these rest now before i slice into them. the largest will be reduced slightly to 1:3, as with the 1:4, some details are lost on the 1:12 but that can't be helped. definitely a difference when making larger vs 1:12 canes. with 1:12, the lines used should be thicker upon assembly so as not to lose all the details after reduction. maybe if i can take a better pic, the lines would be visible on macro mode, but not to -my- naked eye.

still, am happy with the results of this cane. i'm tempted to make more in different shades etc, just so that i can avoid making these for a loooooooooong time XD

took me total of 6+ hrs (including the 2 hrs wasted on my first disastrous cane) to get these few out. i'm glad they're out of the way HA!

Experiment - Resin clay + oil paint

resin clay experiment
Originally uploaded by Snowfern

ok i goofed. i thought i picked up the tube of acrylic paint, only when i started taking pics did i realize it was actually oil paints XD

i needed to do some piping/frosting for a cupcake, and after wasting 3 hrs fiddling with the nozzles and polymer clay, i gave up. since it had to be 'chocolate' cream, i couldn't use the huge tub of texture paste (base colour is white, any colour added to it would be of a pastel hue) either.

i don't remember where i posted a pic of how i used the little tips in syringes, might have been on flickr, but since ADC might dry up in the syringe itself, i decided to minimize on wastage and make mini piping bags instead.

i squeezed out a touch of what i -thought- was brown acrylic paint (that'll teach me to read labels XD ), squeezed out a small ball of grace resin clay, and mixed the two in a disposable sauce container (click on pic to see the notes in my flickr). then i added a little bit of water. by a little bit, it meant i ran my right hand under the tap, and flicked a few drops into the container. real scientific measurements, i know.

what resulted was a sticky gooey mess (thankfully not as messy as polymer clay) that i put into my home-made piping bag. Japanese ADC miniaturists have been using the 'foil cutter' nozzle for quite sometime now, i vaguely recall posting the tutorial link somewhere on my site, but i'm too hazy to find it now, haven't eaten yet today. anyway don't cut yourself doing it. shouldn't be too hard to figure out. just don't ask me ok? i'm grouchy. as usual, after every 'experiment'. ha.



'chocolate' is hard to capture in pics. at least, it's hard for me. i hadn't intended to make the smiley face, but haha it's there XD maybe it's my subconscious at work. yea i'm definitely not smiling now. so it's all in my head.


i tested on a sample 1:3 cupcake that i made out of polymer clay. i think the cream is too tiny for that scale, but i'll let it dry and scrape it off later. wanted to see if it piped nicely/adhered to the polymer clay.


and of course, i had to try it out on a spare 1:12 cupcake XD i'm discontinuing this range of cupcake shapes, since it is not out of my own mold. i will be making available some silicone putty molds of my own design, i've made the master copy of the cupcake base but have yet to test them out on 'proper' 1:12 cupcakes. so far it's looking pretty ok....

all that remains is for the clay to dry thoroughly (2 days maybe? 3?) but so far it looks pretty cool! i will test out a batch with acrylic colours later, and report on the differences. i -think- the oil paints provide a sort of translucency/gloss to the creams, i quite like it but i want to see how acrylic colours do when mixed into just plain grace clay.

anyway. i've finally made my 100th sale on Etsy! i haven't really listed anything 'new-ish', since the bestselling items are my cupcake cases, and also cos i've been busy fulfilling promises and orders and swaps...and i have soo many ideas that require working on (remind me to post about THE GRAND PLAN that some of us TeamMids members are working on....it's kind of naughty ;) *hides behind hands and giggles*

dang, this blog/website needs some major revamping. it's near impossible to find my posts XD

oh, and don't know if anyone really cares to read this, but please, don't ask me anymore questions about how to use clay, what i use for making my miniatures, etc. if you haven't gleaned the info you needed from my blog posts, it means i can't help you further. i think i'll write up an FAQ. i'm kinda sick of repeating myself. which adds to the grouchiness. :X

macaron disaster

trying to get a good pic
Originally uploaded by Snowfern

can someone help me with this?

i've found that for my larger items, there tends to be 'bubbling' on my clay. see the surface of the chocolate macaron?

i mean it's realistic and all, and i know some miniaturists -want- the effect, but i find it immensely annoying as it is not visible on first bake (the macaron shells have to be baked first before adding the 'filling'), but after i assemble the item, it's MARRED. *$@)(*#$

honestly, it does not look all that bad IRL, maybe i shld use soft focus for my pics *sigh* but ARGH!

i suspect it has to do with either the stock (happens only to my older clays) or how i roll the sheets (pasta machine, usually just once through)

halp!

more pics, sigh.


at least i'm quite satisfied with the shapes....



oh and i am terrible at mixing reds/pinks/greens. the pain, oh the pain. the above are just part of the test batch. bakes out differently than when mixed. @)$*#&

=============================

EDIT: OK nevermind i figured it out, cross-posted over at CDHM....

i think it was due to my not pre-heating the oven, not the techniques or the oil paint...i've used oil paints in most of my previous work to no noticeable detriment.....

this time, i experimented 2 ways:

1) old method, roll out, cut, shape, bake WITHOUT preheating oven
2) pre-heat oven, roll out, cut, shape, bake WITH PAPER COVERING clay

results:
1) LEFT: still bubbly
2) RIGHT: NO BUBBLES YAY!!!

i think the oven probably overheated since it wasn't pre-heated, and blistered the clay. so for those who want the texture, go ahead and do what i did XD

===============

PHEW!

Experiment: 1:12 cake art slices

1 12 cake slices experiment results
Originally uploaded by Snowfern

the bases were part of a previous batch, you can look through my archives for those experiment results.

so some of them, i'd already 'painted' to see if i could achieve the same cake art i use on my donuts (achieved with liquid polymer clay), so since they were sort of a failure, i decided to go ahead and bake them.

after baking, i would say the colours of the cake itself weren't as vibrant, but not -too- noticeable really. also, the ones that had the 'protective layer' from the previous experiment, the liquid polymer clay painted on a lot easier (of course), and i'd deliberately worked slowly to see if the ones without the layer would 'absorb' the polymer clay.

summary of sorts:

- better to have a sealant layer separating the ADC (air dry clay) from the LPC (liquid polymer clay)

- LPC doesn't really get 'absorbed' into ADC very much, at least not for the 20mins or so i'd left it while i worked on the rest.

- those without sealant, although appearance wise before baking didn't seem any different, 'sunk' in a little after baking. probably got soaked into the top layer of the ADC.

- ADC might lose vibrancy of colours, perhaps more due to brand of paint i used to colour the clay?

- cracks might develop, i was expecting the ones with the 'sealant' not to crack, but it did (you can click on the pic to see the notes on my flickr). probably due to expansion of the ADC during bake process.

- no visible bubbling due to air rising from ADC into LPC, unevenness apparent in pics are due to my careless handling of the LPC (too lazy to spread it on evenly XD )

ALTERNATIVE HANDLING
- think about baking the liquid polymer clay sheets, then sticking it onto the cake slices. but have to be rather precise to achieve desirable results.

- find an easier, better air-dry medium (any recommendations other than nail polish? i remembered that i tossed away my over 30 bottles of nail polish when i moved. they had dried up in their bottles XD)

so there we have it. i think that i will still use this combination and test it a little further, since i'm using up my ADC before (hopefully) it degrades. i love the texture it lends to cake slices, and hope this experiment has been useful/interesting to those who have tried it, or are thinking of incorporating the two.

Review: Polymer Clay vs Air Dry Clay

still learning how to handle slicing the clay. must learn to be patient and wait at least 2-3 days (depending on weather) before attempting slicing. also must learn how to minimize wastage :(

all that, and only 2 'decent' slices LOL but i shall persevere!

a semi-failure.
lessons learnt:

- although the cake art goes on beautifully, after it has dried fully it 'flattens'/shrinks down to the base, revealing all the cracks i'd been trying to hide XD but it's ok if the cake base is flat.

to try: NAIL POLISH! XD (thanks readers! i will experiment on that next!)

MY CLAY IS HERE!!!! ok i guess i should give PCE another chance...at least they didn't mess up my order, and the clay arrived quickly. the order was placed on 22nd Dec 2009 and arrived 08 Jan 2010, during the busy holiday/festive period too!

lessons learnt:

- always ask for a quote on shipping/items BEFORE making payment
- don't be too quick to anger. mistakes happen. XD


REVIEW ON POLYMER CLAY VS AIR DRY CLAY

DISCLAIMER: i can't rightly say that i've enough experience with air dry clay to be objective. don't take my word for it. try it out for yourself, then decide.

Polymer Clay vs Air Dry Clay, GENERAL differences
Polymer Clay	Air Dry Clay
can be stored indefinitely	quality deteriorates over time, might even get moldy
storage is easy, keep away from hard plastics and dust, cool place	needs to be stored in air tight containers, even while working with it
no shrinkage	possible shrinkage dependent on brand/type and manipulation (i.e. amount of water/white glue added)
fast curing time, just bake and let cool	long cure time
does not require sealant	requires sealant since it is not waterproof
can be used for caning	not impossible for caning, but different techniques required with not as good results as with polymer clay
requires deliberate manipulation to obtain textures	excellent inherent qualities for cake textures
more detailed textures	limited time frame to texture surface
bakes hard, almost like plastic with little resistance (just don't go pressing hard into it with your fingernails)	depending on type of clay, can dry a little soft
depending on brand, non-sticky	if too wet, sticks to hands unless barrier cream is used
requires conditioning	no conditioning required
might burn in oven	curing time extended in humid conditions
needs baking/specialized oven	dries when left in open air
can't use certain plastic tools	plastic tools can be used safely
needs more specialized materials i.e. liquid polymer clay, dliuent etc all of which are expensive although there are alternate sources (risky results)	everyday materials like white glue, water, paints can be incorporated easily
need better understanding of what plastics can be suitable to store the clay	can be stored in pretty much any container
basically only 1 type, POLYMER CLAY, different brands have slightly variant properties (level of translucency, hardness etc)	wide variety of types of clay, resin, stone, paper, wood, wheat etc, each with different properties, shrinkage, effects etc. some better than others for flowers vs cakes etc.
harder to clean, older batches of clay might contain toxic phthalates	cleans up easily with water, non-toxic (i think?)
cures somewhat matte, depending on brand (KATO bakes to a sheen)	dries matte
raw clay surfaces pick up pastels very well, hence easy colouration for realistic detailing	requires pretty decent paint techniques to achieve more realistic details

PERSONAL PREFERENCES - POLYMER CLAY VS AIR DRY CLAY
better for baked goods, breads etc cos it can pick up pastels	better for RICE, sprinkles, cake slices, stuff that doesn't require too much surface detailing
does not require sealant, i'm lazy, ha!	do not like having to seal it as details can be lost, sealant/paint details may rub off
FAST CURING TIME! I can finish a project within a day	have to wait and plan out projects over a few days to complete
lack of availability is frustration	pretty easily available in Singapore
messy sticky, needs special cleaning materials like baby wipes, baby oil, lots of tissue	cleans up easily with water, non-toxic (i think?)
have to be careful of which surfaces that come into contact with it	not so many worries XD just don't get it wet
creams, cake art can be easily manipulated with liquid polymer clay	have to work with specialized mediums ('cream' clay, texture pastes etc) to achieve results
personally find it picks up dirt faster than ADC	not as 'dirty' but still does pick up dirt (ok i'm a dirty girl XD)
colouration, graduation of colours using skinner blend makes for realistic transition of colours	HAVE TO PAINTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT, am TERRIBLE at painting, washing brushes not a fave thing to do either
hurts when i have to condition it	no need to condition. Less resistance than polymer clay
easier for me to add details without worrying about distortion	too soft, shape difficult to maintain when adding textures
more difficult to work with molds, molds might react with clay	easy to work with molds. Just let dry and remove

VERDICT:

I LIKE BOTH. i am thinking of experimenting a little more to incorporate the 2. feel free to add your comments on your preferences ^ ^

Experiment - Air dry cake art

*feeling pleased with self*

am waiting on these to dry before glossing, let's see if i can then consider this a successful experiment!

can you guess what i used for the frosting/icing? no prizes, and i will never reveal what it is, but if someone figures it out i'll definitely let you know ;)

Experiment - Air dry clay (and yet again!)

first try. you can tell i didn't mix the clays sufficiently. well ok maybe only those who work with air dry clay can tell better. click on pic to see notes i've added on flickr to the pic.

this one is a mega disaster LOL the white lightweight paper clay might have been a little too pulpy, but i think maybe MAYBE if i added more grace, it wouldn't flake and crumble when i slice into it?

this one gave the best results, but took the longest to dry cos i totally added too much water. at least i -think- i've figured out how to slice it decently. i used a razor blade for this.

and i really wanted to find a way to do the frosting like i did for my donuts, 'cept air-dry style. this is a defniite failure. i mixed acrylic with white glue for the lower one, but i think the ratio was wrong and the acrylic dried up too quickly. the upper one was only marginally less of a failure as i'd added 2:1 water: acrylic, then a dab of white glue. still. no go. not as beautiful as the results i get with liquid polymer clay.

which would be tomorrow's experiment. :) wow 3 posts in a day!

oh yeah, these bases were made with the help and advice from Asuka but please don't pester her LOL! i literally mucked about with the clay, it got so messy i think more than half the clay went down the drain since it stuck to my hands and i got so grossed out i nearly gave up more than once > <

see what i mean by 'lots of failures'? man if i had documented all my polymer clay failures i'da given up a looong time ago :X