Breads and bagels

Hello, followers, friends and visitors! I hope all is well with you. Things are very well with me because we're finally getting some nice sunny days in Florida - after weeks of rain. Still a little cool but Spring is coming.

After my last post, I thought about what I wanted to do next and got out my "master list".  Most of what was on there was either Christmas or Nautical.  Then I figured, "what the heck".  I wanted to make some other minis that weren't going into any particular dollhouse, scenario, or roombox.
Just things I've wanted to do - just for me.  For example, breads, macaroons, cakes, maybe a few purses, an open parasol, etc. I figure that by doing something like this, I'd  come back to my big projects with a few new ideas and a fresh prospective.  It's worth a try.

I have done very little with polymer clay in over a year so I started out with Breads. I like bread.
I knew I would have to practice a little so after I got the coloring right, I made a few loaves of French bread and bagels, It went easier than I thought.

Then I found a basket big enough for everything to fit.  I still have a few different types of bread to make, like wheat and white bread loaves but I am very low on white clay and want to make a few other things.  The colors didn't show up very well, but they are a golden brown.

Next, I went on to make a couple of teapots.  Nothing extravagant, just your basic teapot.

I did have a little trouble with these.  The clay was very soft and either I left a few fingerprints on them or they got a little out of shape when I added the handle and spout. At first I added more corn starch and that helped a little. But then I did what I read about on a polymer clay jewelry board.  I put all the pieces in the freezer for about 10 minutes and that helped a lot.

But.. be careful. I had them on my ceramic tile and if you don't move them to another surface, say another tile, you will find condensation has made your tile wet and that makes the clay just as hard to work with. 

But a better way to get the clay a little bit firmer, is to roll it out between 2 sheets of computer paper and let it set for a while. Just be sure to check it often so that not all the softener leaches out. That tip came from:

http://thebluebottletree.com/10-simple-polymer-clay-tips/ ( Hope this link works)

There are other useful tips there so check it out.

I hate to post and run but before I go, I found 2 more blogs you might want to check out.  Very nice

http://katrinnukkekotiprokkis.blogspot.com/

Another fabulous blog http://piccoloparadisoeinfernofg.blogspot.it/

Til next time, take care.

Diane