Sweetness...

What nurture our lives and livings?
We all have similar and different answer in different aspect.

I love good feelings...

Have a beautiful Friday!
Rachel :)

Missing The Red Roses....

Weather is not so good these days, gloomy and stormy. Windy and rain. I didn't have chance (time, mood and ...) to make new miniature lately. Simply ran out of energy after work. I don't think I'm turning to be a workaholic or a robot. But now I know how daily life and works kill inspiration and all the drive forces. It just pressed and pushed things down and not long these things will be buried somewhere and left forgotten...

I have tons of idea to make my miniatures, plans to do and experiments to try out. How come a day of 24 hours simply over in a heart beat? Let's play it another way around, stay focus and be more determine. We all have 24 hours a day, all the same. I should stop dreaming during day time and set it free when night falls. Perhaps this works. ;)

I'm missing the red roses.......

Life Is Surprise!

(And busy!) With ordinary things in ordinary days there always something happen! :)

After a long time of hot and humidity weather here in the big mango temperature decreased, some degrees did help me survive the living. That was one good thing happened. Been invited to be an invited speaker in a seminar, got positive comments and feed backs. :) Feel more relieve and relax, etc., etc.

Ice cream anyone? Select one strawberry-banana, lime sorbet, cookie and cream or orange yogurt? :)




I also received a 'Sisterhood Award' from A. Wright and Lena. Thank you very much! :)

There are also some rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

I'm would like to pass this award to friends who come visit my blog and:
1. http://debbiestinytreasures.blogspot.com/
2. http://kimsminiatures.blogspot.com/
3. http://kaysk9s.blogspot.com/
4. http://marjabalvers.blogspot.com/
5. http://marliesminies.blogspot.com/
6. http://christeljensen.blogspot.com/
7. http://petitplatbysk.blogspot.com/
8. http://une-petite-folie.blogspot.com/
9. http://miniaturasdaisy.blogspot.com/
10. http://caseymini.blogspot.com/

*hugs*
Rachel :)

Bitter Sweet...

After struggling with paper box making for quite a while I'm now on my box-making obsession. :D

I've discovered the fun of paper box making even if most of them are more or less useless. The great fun is once a box is being made, different pralines also being considered in order to fill the box. I like these tiny chocolate boxes and very much satisfy with the results (at the moment).

I now have my very own chocolate box made entirely by me. :)


P.S. Thank you Ana for the award. I'm honored! :)

Hot Pot-Bread...

What else is better than fresh baked bread in these cold, freezing days?

Fresh baked grandma's recipe sun dried tomato pot-bread with Italian pesto and hot tea will warm you up. *^^*

What kind of pesto do you like? For me, I vote for traditional basil pesto. :D

Do you smell the fresh baked bread? They are ready! Don't forget to bring some butter on the way and we can start our day out! ;)

Chocolate Boxes vs Box of Chocolates

Tadaaaa!!! My very first chocolate box with pralines. I tried paper box but, seem that I need more time for tiny paper boxes. lol After some mistakes and unsatisfied results of mini-paper boxes I gave up (for the moment) and gave it a tried on lay box instead. Was not bad, I think (the round one in front). :) So, I tried heart and hexagonal shape. Wish the chocolates are edible. *bite* *bite* *bite*

Things to try out though. Happy holiday, merry Christmas and happy new year! :)

The Bouquet Cake...

It might be the weather...

I made this cake intended to make it as a combination of cake and a flower bouquet. I used to make a cake represented a 'dinner table for our first dating', like it so much... And this cake is something for special occasion as if 'he' came to your door, ring the bell with flower bouquet in his arm waiting for the door to open...

My New Cupcakes and Blog Award

O.K., still in my cupcake obsession mood! :D Yesterday I made this prep. board. It's a fruit cupcake prep. board. I made flower cupcakes for the other prep. board and it's sold out and I still enjoy making cupcake and wanted to make something else different. I also made green tea cupcake which (I think) made the prep. board more colorful.

After taking picture of the prep. board, I found out that the best spot in the picture I like is the left up corner where the 3 ready made cupcakes are (looks festive-IMHO). Wanna give them a bite or two... *blush*



I received a nice surprise blog award from Staphanie (Petit Plat by sk) the other day and had problem to pass this award to miniaturist/artisan I admire. I admire many of them and it's difficult to make 6 out of all, I like Stephanie's works but, I can't pass this award back to her (or can I?). After a while I figured out that some of them are already awarded, feel relieve now. *^^*

Here are 6 dollhouse/doll/miniature artisans whom I would like to pass this blog award to:

1. Casey's Minis by Casey
2. Petite Framboise by Joana
3. Kay's 9ks by K. Stahler
4. .:minicaretti:. by Marcella
5. Dollhouse by Sumaiya Mehreen
6. Little Treasure by Christel Jensen

Please pass this award to another 6 people. :)

Marble Cake or Cupcake?

Holidays are coming closer and closer. I made Christmas cakes and holiday bundt cake. *^^* I really like this bundt cake with its texture, color and 'taste'. :D Chocolate marble bundt cake! The most difficult part was decorating, I like the cake texture as itself and also wanted to decorate the cake. Over decoration will distract and disturb the marble texture, no decoration? too plain I thought. So, here we are... *^^*

And finally, I made my 'King' cupcakes. They are bigger than the cupcake I made in the past, but still in shape and scale. Cupcake lover will enjoy the size (I think :)). I've seen many beautiful real cupcake and the most 'yummy' part is its decoration. I'm now trying to make my cupcake yum... I also make cupcake for your ears! :D

Simply Me...

Nothing more, nothing special... *^^*

I kinda like this sponge cake, love the simplicity, pretty color combination (IMHO), and love it as a sponge cake. :)

I used to make fruity sponge cake, cupcake and tried to make something else other not different, but the mixture of those lovely cakes...

Grill and Green!

We all are aware of health and healthy food lately. But who would say no to fresh grilled steak? Let's make it healthy meal with green salad and some veggies! :)

I made this meal set out of my own hunger. lol Beside green salad bowl I added 2 fresh baked buns, mashed potato and some other veggies to the dish. Anything else missing? Oh well... let's eat! ;)

Story of 'Us'

Making a wedding cake with philosophy behind, it makes the cake so meaningful and I love it! :)

I made this cake a simple inclined 4-tier wedding cake. The flowers represent things happened before two person become one.

The first tier, the base one, with 4 flowers means 'when we first met we were in the middle of people, friends...'.
The second tier with 3 flowers means 'then, we were getting closer to each other - meet the parents'.
The third tier with 2 flowers means 'now, it's all about 'us', only 2 of us'.

The fourth tier with a single flower means 'finally it's the day, two of us becomes one person'.

'Husband and wife' ... :)

The 'Station'

After a while of mini-making, some friends are asking how is my mini-making place look like. I make miniatures here and there (wherever space available :D), but the place I named 'my mini-station' is this place. The place is spelled once I sit there I can't drag myself out until something is made.

I know you know that the desk is not always this clean, always somethings on it. lol

At the corner is my latest custom made items, a wooden cart with home baked breads and buns:

It's fun receiving an empty cart/dish/plate/etc. with a short message 'I want it filled with...'
:D

Sweet Summer...

Back from vacation! :) Time flies, really. It was just like yesterday and now vacation is over... I would love to have a never ending vacation. :P

I made this 'sweet summer' for my special someone and I love it (but I love him more...). :)

Time In A Bottle

Another sand clay items I've made. I named this one 'time in a bottle'. The bottled flowers are together with sand clay lid.

I'm getting ready for my vacation. Woo Hooooo! I'm now on my miniature break - only lazy around, eat and sleep. :P I try to put miniature things aside until I'm back with new things in my head. :)

It's also difficult not to go online as often as I used to do (yes, I know I'm addicted). lol I'm planning to get back to my wood work, crochet and paper craft things even if my wood work doesn't seem to go anywhere, but it's fun and I can't just stay away from it once I've 'chance'. ;) Oh, I hope it will be better once I 'grow up' enough. :D

Air Dry Clay Tips

I'm currently doing a small experiment with the ADCs, fluidized them, harden them up, and so on. I also experiment on my own sand clay recipes too! :) But there will not be any new item from the experiment to show here yet. I'll have to wait until next weekend to be able to 'play' again.

OK, now let's talk about ADC tips. You know that ADC dry up when it exposes to air. However, they clay drying rate also increase once you mix the color to the clay. It doesn't matter how tight you seal your bag, it dries. I think it's kind of chemical reaction between the clay and color compositions which speed up the drying process. But this doesn't mean the clay will dry in a heart beat. I mean, normally you may keep the clay for months while the colorized clay will only last for a few weeks. So, it's good to make a plan on making things and amount of clay to be colorized for each use.

Clay and tools, with Fimo and other PC. Once it comes to time you play with tools, you will need cornstarch or talcum powder to powder/coat you tools to prevent the stickiness and gluing effect between the clay and tools. What about ADC? It's not much different. With ADC you can also use talc or cornstarch or dense/rich hand cream - in many CP recipes/tutorials the suggestion is cold cream.

Now, get ready, grab stuff around and see if you can use some for your mini making/sculpturing 'tools'. Have fun! ;)

Marble Cake

OK, something else other than regular cream cake, marble cake! :) The cake is made of Thai Clay while the flowers are from Japanese Luna clay. I managed to get the stripes of cream and chocolate part. Yes, beside marble sponge cake this one is marble cream cake! :D Well, it was fun trying this and that and even better when the result come out quite nicely.

When I started my clay play, I was afraid of 'experiment' and was intended to follow other artisans' pathways and techniques and kept my cakes 'traditional'. Anyway, it was not fun...

Making miniatures with ADC is a great chance to learn, adapt, adopt, invent, adjust and play with techniques and the materials. I intend to do scratch, sculpt, knead and twist, etc. techniques rather than moldings. Seeing ancient handmade items with delicate details inspire me a lot. If they can with a lot less and very limited tools, why can't I?

The truth? Ok... :P Actually, it was because when I started making minis I was still working on my master degree in a university and as a student (then) and even now I have limited budget. I have to make good, better and best use of things I have - even laboratory stuff. *lol* To be on brighter side, these things made me think and that makes my grey cells work a bit... ;)

Coloring The Clay

I've been 'playing' with ADC for quite a while with a couple different 'brand' or whatever so called. As ADC comes in translucent white (rarely come in white) therefore, once you would like to make the clay into something you need to add color to it.


Color used:

You can use almost (I said almost because I did not try all type of the color available yet) artist color: water color, poster color, oil color, acrylic color, etc. Just add them into the clay and knead the mixtures to get even color.

Water and poster color give pastel tone of color while acrylic and oil color give you stronger color. However, it's depend on the way you mix the color. If you are familiar with color and painting, I'm sure you can make it out whatever you want.


I, finally, finished my bakery house! :D It's so fun with all these 'clay play'!
I warn you... ;)

ADC Breads and Buns

Hehehe :D I guessed you see that I've a new obsession, breads and buns. In all I almost get stuff for a bakery shop done, and they are all made of ADC. :) This time it's black and white breads scene. I couldn't get all names yet though... Any suggestion?

Material: ADC - Thai Clay
Technique: Handmade/Hand Sculptured - knead, twist, scratch, ...

Air Dry Clay

Clay:

There are several different type of clay used for miniatures and sculptures. For miniature food, you may familiar with Polymer Clay like Fimo which is also known as oven or bake clay which needs to be baked in oven to get its final properties. Cold porcelain is well known for realistic look flower making and it's a kind of clay that do not need to be baked to make it hard and fully 'set' when it dried.

Yet, there are many more type of clay used for art and craft...



Research & Experience:

I started my mini-making using ADC, Japanese ADC known as Pando or Pan Clay and Cosmos and also work with Fimo from time to time. Later on I use Luna Clay which is also ADC. The properties of these clay are not much different. I don't know what exactly the ingredients of these clay are. But from internet searchings, information exchanging with several other crafters and sculptures brought me to my conclusion that cold porcelain and the ADC I use are quite similar they all started from homemade bread dough then, develop the recipe for better properties especially, to prevent disturbance from insects and molds.

There are pros and cons on each and every clay and that once you decide to 'play' with it you may need to do some experiments to get used to its properties.


Coming up next: The Recipe(s)