Food, Glorious Food!

Joan Potter Thomas

It has been a long time since I’ve posted. My husband’s transfer to Southern California stalled my progress on the Mouse House as I’ve been living most of the time in our Tustin, CA apartment rather than our house in Michigan. I have a desk in our apartment (with a wonderful view!) but most of my art supplies are in Michigan, so I’ve been limited with how I use the space. I did a lot of sewing (five art quilts) this past year, but I miss constructing the Mouse House! I finally decided to just “bite the bullet” and I bought polymer clay and new sculpting tools and am learning how to make miniature food while I’m out west.

I am very lucky to have this beautiful space in California to work on all my creative endeavors. I just wish I had the Mouse House and all of my supplies here as well!

The Mouse House has a kitchen, a pantry, a kitchen loft and a dining room I want to fill with realistic food I make myself. I jumped right in trying to sculpt without instructions (a habit of mine!), yet my awkward results indicated I needed help. I spent time reading books on sculpting and discovered the incredible video resources on YouTube. I’m now spending these (strangely!) rainy California days making tiny food over and over. Practice, practice, practice.

I made grapes the last couple of days while the Santa Ana winds blew sheets of rain outside my window. Here’s how I did it:

I mixed polymer clay until I achieved the desired color for the stems .
I rolled the clay until it was very thin then cut it into small pieces.
Using tweezers, I stuck these pieces together so they resembled grape stems.
The clay stems were then baked for about five minutes in the oven.
I applied brown acrylic paint on sections of the baked stems so they looked more realistic.
These are the baked and painted stems.
It took quite awhile to mix the clay until I achieved the desired “grape” colors. I made three clumps of slightly different purples so the grapes would not be uniform.
I rolled thin logs and cut them into grape sized portions.
The grapes : three colors rolled into tiny balls.
I used this adhesive to glue the unbaked clay grapes to the baked stems.
Meticulous work!
The purple grapes, ready to bake.
Ten minutes in the oven.
I added very small amounts of colored chalk to the baked grapes to make them more realistic .
The final step was to add a glossy glaze.
Ta da! Here are the finished grapes. (I made green ones as well.)
The polymer clay
green grapes.
The clay grapes ready to go into the Mouse House .

I have practiced making lots more fruits and vegetables as well as several entrees. Each time I make an item it looks more realistic, so I’ll keep working. Stay tuned!

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