I worked on miniature corn-on-the-cob (in their husks) the last few days. First I chose and mixed a variety of green colored clay and rolled them through my pasta machine several times. This eventually produced a thin piece of clay with subtle striations.

I cut the leaf-shaped corn husks with my razor blade and set them aside so they would be a bit stiff when I needed them.

The actual corn was made with bright yellow clay, rolled into a thin log then cut into appropriate lengths. I textured it by rolling each piece on a silicone stamp with a grid pattern. (This worked fine for the pieces inside of the husks, but I don’t like the texture of the stripped corn. More on that later.)

Finally. I carefully layered the husks over each piece of corn, leaving some of the pieces with exposed corn and others completely covered. I added a small piece of light green clay for the stem.

Before baking I added some texture to the husks and a light wash of dark green acrylic paint to add depth. I experimented with a couple of fibers for the corn silk: shredded twine and glossy plastic from a cheap floral pick I bought at Michael’s. The twine looks best but I only added it to a couple of pieces as it’s just too messy looking and that detail won’t show where the corn is going in the Mouse House.

Back to the texture of the corn…from a distance, the pattern from the silicone stamp gives the illusion of full cobs, but up close it looks like the corn has already been eaten! Right now I’m going to keep these as I think they will be in “water” on the Mouse House stove and the texture won’t be very visible.