Necklace, Ring and Keychains :)

Hello all!

After my examination recently, I've attempted to make accessories! But... that doesn't mean I've forsaken my miniature clay art...! *keke* Just that mini clay art needs more time and due to the commitment for school in this two years, the time that I can spare isn't as much as before...

Anyway I've made Angel keychain and earring from Swarovski crystals for my family and close friends! Additionally I've also made a simple necklace with a snowflake pendant, The  chain that I chose to use was a black color cloth-liked material attached with a heart shape loop closure together with a silver chain that allows adjustment of the neckalce length depending on individual's preference. I like it when the crystals sparkle :) Thus when making accessories, I prefer to use Swarovski crystals as they tend to out-sparkle beads made of normal cystal glass :)

Swarovski angel pendent

Swarovski angel keychain

Swarovski snowflake pendent necklace (view 1)

Swarovski snowflake pendant necklace (view 2)

This key chain was specially designed to hang onto my ordinary, all-black color bag which will glisten with little gleams of light and enhance the appearance of my simple bag *Hee* :)

Keychain: Hidden Star (view 1)

Keychain: Hidden Star (view 2)

Keychain: Hidden Star (view 3)

This is the first ring that I made which was decorated with clay flowers, white beads and pink Swarovski crystals that brought forth elegance to it. I'm still a beginner to jewelry making but hope its still pleasing to your eye! *Hee* :)

Twinkle ring: Pinkish Delight (view 1)

Twinkle ring: Pinkish Delight (view 2)

Sweet pointers to determine if the crystals are made of genuine Swarovski crystals as some shop tends to sell beads that mimic Swarovski crystals:

1. Normal glass beads are dull and does Not capture the light, thus does glister very well.

2. Fake crystal beads have tiny bubles present in it.

3. Swarovski® crystals are perfectly uniform. Since they are machine cut, each crystal is the same. Thus the height, width and slope are consistent. However normal glass beads will Not have such uniform cut.

 4. Look for the original Swarovski® packaging. Dependant on size, the bulk packages will range from 10 gross to 1/2 gross, in well-branded, sealed envelopes. The newest Swarovski® bulk packaging is sealed with an authenticated silver toned hologram saying "CRYSTALIZED."

 5. Generally, Swarovski® crystals are not strung when offered for sale.

Hope this informations is helpful! Turning in soon... Nitez everyone~! :)

 

Mooncake and Baker's Loaves of Bread

Dear readers, 

As I just started my second semester for University, I'll probably update my blog less often til the start of my vacation in August this year. Apologies for that as my course of studies has a tight schdule and there're loads of reports and assignments weekly for me to finish! :X
I'll try to spare some time to update my blog at least once a month =)

Before I get busier, let me show you some miniatures that I've yet to post.

Baked mooncakes

A mistake was made while making the eggs....The undried molded egg pieces were laid on the table (untouched) till it dried. Guess what, sadly, the bottom side of the eggs got flattened abit :( *Brggh...*

Basket of fresh eggs (view 1)

Basket of fresh eggs (view 2)

Here's an overview of different types of bread including loaves of baguette, artisan breads, hotdog buns, chocolate teddy breads etc.! *Drooling...*

An overview of baked goods

Tray of breads and buns

Basket of artisan breads

Berries Hopping Waffles!

Dear readers,

I just bought a rabbit waffle mold which got from online! Like it so much as I didn't see this type of waffle shape :D Anyway I thought of making a series of mini waffles of different shapes (already did the heart shape waffles). I'm using Hearty air dry clay this time round which doesn't stick to the mold as much than the Resin air dry clay I used previously.

However the coloring process really requires that extra patience... As I mentioned before, I think Hearty was quite difficult to be painted especially after the clay has dried. I wasted my first rabbit waffle as the color became too dark=failed product.  Initially I thought the coloring process would be similar to that of how I painted other types of clay. But I was wrong... The color became darker and was difficult to be wiped off for repaint; even if I used moist towel to wipe away the coat, it was still unsuitable to be repainted. Thus for my second attempt I tried to paint it in a different way, though the result was still not to satisfactory, yet still better than the first *hehe*. 

I snapshot process of making the decorated waffles different stages in case I might ruin the whole plate of waffles at any point of time; especially during the process of doing the 'strawberry topping which I usually don't get a nice natural flow *Ooops*...

Here they are! :)

1. I decorated the white plate with slices of orange and lemon

2. Whipped the cream and placed slices of strawberries at the side of the dish

Wow! Lastly,

3. Topped the waffles with strawberry sauce to sweeten the plate of hopping waffles!!

Ta da...! There you go...

100% Non-Fat Dessert for the day! *Sweeeet*!

Hope this plate of Berries Hopping Waffles sweeten your day ahead..!! :D

Resin (Taiwan) Vs. Hearty Air Dry Clay

Have you ever wonder what's the difference between clay of different brands? I've been figuring this when I started to use the Hearty air dry clay to sculpt my miniatures when my Resin (Taiwan) air dry clay was about to finish.

The following points are the differences which I'd found when comparing the miniatures made with these two brands of air dry clays. :) Hope it's helpful to you!

- Weight: Dried Hearty is lighter than Resin clay,

- Coloring: Color application using oil paint is much difficult on dried Hearty clay; the surface is rather rough to use brush to paint the clay and once the color is applied, it's hard to wipe it away. Whereas dried Resin clay is easier to coat oil paint onto it and the paint can be wiped off easier as well.

Dried resin clay is glossier than dried Hearty clay

Hearty clay shinks much more when dried (3rd donut from left) as compared to the undried Hearty (first uncolored donut). The middle donut is made from Resin clay.

 P.S: The differences between both clays were just my personal thoughts & may differ among individuals. Why not experience it yourself, it's interesting & the results may be out of your expectation :)

Arrival of Miniatures & Recollection of Good Old Days!

Hello all!

I've been waiting for the news of the arrival of my purchased miniatures since umm... mid of January this year. I was thrilled at the thought of receiving bags of miniature from my friend who came back from overseas yesterday! =D

This is also the week of my start of holiday since my last day of industrial attachment ended last Friday (26 Feb). So my mood is like ‘high up to the sky’ now! *hahaha*

Woke up around noon time (well...I know I sleep a lot :X), and started to unpack the bags of miniature, check the stocks, arrange them accordingly, and at the same time, admiring those miniatures!

Wow..Looking at these items just put a big grin on my face! :D

 The sewing machine is my favourite! It’s so small and when put next to a real one, doesn’t it look like a giant vs. dwarf? I remember my house used to have this similar model of sewing machine but was thrown away, kind of an antique to me...

Purchased miniature kitchen wares (view 1)

Purchased miniature kitchen wares (view 2)

Purchased miniature kitchen wares (view 3)

Mini antique sewing machine

While taking pictures of the miniature kitchen wares, I realised I had a wooden dollhouse furnished with furnitures which were keptat a corner of my house for a long time (about one or two years ago?) Anyway that was fixed by my best friend and I. First handmade dollhouse! :D We bought the pack of premeasured wooden pieces to build the dollhouse (photos as shown below). We polished the uneven parts, organised (as there were plenty of them laying messily in the pack) and glue the wooden pieces accordingly :) I remember that day we immediately unwrapped the package when we reached home and enthusiastically spent the whole night fixing the dollhouse! *thumbs up!* :D

 

Since the dollhouse was kept at a corner for some time, the plastic bag wrapped around the dollhouse and furnitures was kind of dusty =M.

I took them out of the plastic bag and found yellow stains/spots on some parts, =( not a good sign ya... Nevertheless, I wiped it and arranged the wooden furnitures around, trying to decorate the inadequately furnished house. Of cause, without the paint and decoration, this little house doesn't look that cozy. So I tried to furnish it with remaining handmade wooden furnitures, to make it as attractive as possible :)

Hopefully it has gone up a little higher level of standard..! Hee..

Front view of my handmade dollhouse

Back view of my handmade dollhouse

Kitchen on the right side of the dollhouse

Overview of the furnished handmade dollhouse

Living room of the dollhouse

Furnished kitchen of the dollhouse with plates of waffles and icy drink

Tea cozy corner with mini wooden high chair

Honey Glazed Waffles - Valentine 2010

Four more days to Valentine! To this romantic occasion, I've crafted Honey Glazed Waffles companied by Icy Mountain Berry with a tinge of floral note ... Woosh! Cool and Sweeeet! *haha* While describing, I've the urge to 'taste' them.

It took me two days to finish this set of waffles which I called: Berry Love (since pinkish strawberry is the theme for the set?) Anyway the drink was made from trial and errors to get the correct color tone. During my first mixing of color, the pink was too bright and the drink became opaque as I added too much color into the epoxy resin. So I've to redo and yup, I somehow got the impression I want... somehow... though not exactly ... 


Feel free to comment on my handicrafts so I can make improvement ya! :) hee...

This year is special as Chinese Lunar New Year and Valentine fall on the same day :)  Goodies and... awesome time spent together with our love ones! Hereby, I wish you an early Sweety Romantic Chinese New Year!!!  =D 

Cheers! :)

Blessed New Year to All!

A blessed new year to you! 

It has been a busy busy year since my school term started and thus did not have time to sculpt miniatures and hence not much updates for my post... Apologies for that to all my readers... :C 

Thankfully, it's the period of my internship now which means I've got spare time for miniature making! :D 

It got me some time to familarise all the steps of making miniatures....  And the chinese saying ''熟能生巧'' (meaning practice make perfect) has always been on my mind that motivated me to never give up for failed attempts on miniature making! haha :)

These are the type of breads which I've made.

Scrambled-egg with lettuce and mayonnaise bread

Loaves of Baguette and Crunchy Star-Cookies

Cheers!

Shannie :)