Miniature bakery #2

After a fairly hefty gap, I came back to this and continued along the baked goods theme... this time focussing on sweet foods. For the next post, I’ll try to remember to take some images during the process, not just the end result. The goal I am moving (very slowly) towards, is a miniature bakery diorama inside a bread bin.

Hot-crossed bun (halved) and cookies

After making a few intact hot-crossed buns (below) I decided to create one cut in half, so I could texture the inside as well. I used scrunched foil and a toothbrush, as well as a safety pin for finer detail. This is one of the only pieces I’ve made which doesn’t have a flat bottom. I have yet to work out how to apply pressure to the top of a piece, without creating a flat bottom on the reverse. Perhaps a firmer clay?

Similar technique with the cookies and in each case the choc chips and currants were made separately and added using a pin.

Hot-crossed buns (whole)

As above, but intact and with flat bottoms. I enjoyed creating a dip for each ‘cross’ and then laying the two lines and cutting them off. The affect feels quite realistic.

Christmas cookies

I used a craft knife to create the festive shapes and then painted and textured them in the usual way. I then mixed white pastel paint with liquid polymer and drew the ‘icing’ on with a pin. Shown here before baking, the icing looks great. Unfortunately it lost some of its shine and turned off-white in the oven. So something to work on…

… And with plates

Set up for a nice photo on (admittedly shop bought) miniature plates. All pre-glazing. You can see the discolouration on the Christmas cookies here. I also had a bash at some macaroons, which have some nice texturing but again the colours aren’t quite right. They’re also a bit too ‘fat’. Will persevere as I think a set of multicoloured macaroons could look very nice if done well.