Sunday, March 1, 2015

Margherita, not Margarita

Another day, another project!  I'm juggling two at the moment, which works out to be a good strategy for keeping boredom at bay and creativity fresh.  Inventory production took precedence during the past week and part of the focus was on pizza.  A favorite of mine is the Margherita, heavy on the mozzarella and sauce, please...

1/1 scale peas and cilantro leaf and 1/12 Margherita pizza.

Every now and then I'll receive a message with a miniatures-related question. Today's questions answered:

Which clay do you use?  After experimenting with just about every brand of polymer (heat-cured) and air-dry (polymer, resin, paper) clay, I found that Fimo (any type) and Fimo Liquid work the best for me (ask other food miniaturists the same question and the answer will likely be different every time).  Early on I also used certain colors of  Cernit but disliked how rock hard this brand got after a year or so and didn't like its consistency when reconstituted with softeners.  Fimo gets dry and crumbly after a while but it will become usable with this simple hack:  Drop the crumbly mess in the corner of a freezer bag, fold the bag over twice, place on a towel and use a hammer to pound the crap out of it.  Unfold the bag, gather the flattened clay in a ball, fold the bag twice, and pound again.  Repeat the routine; add Fimo Mix Quick or Fimo Liquid if necessary.  After about 5 minutes, the clay should be pliable and ready to go.  This process also works well when conditioning a lot of clay at once and will save wear and tear on your hands and/or clay rolling machine, as well as time and effort saved not having to clean the machine.

Will you post a photo of your clay stash?  (??!!)  Okie-dokie.


Why don't you offer tutorials?   A major reason - there are a zillion polymer clay food tutorials on the internet, as well as books on the subject.  Information galore.  After researching what's already out there, I think the only other factor that would determine one's success is one's aptitude and talent.  Also, if demonstrating or sharing techniques or projects, I'd prefer working and interacting with others in person.  Finally, I've found a good balance doing what I do now - research, planning, production, photography, marketing, sales, shipping, blogging, social media, email, eating, sleeping, filing taxes, general living :^)  Something's gotta give if I add tutorials to the mix!

Kudos to all of you who can manage their lives AND produce tutorials :^D

Have a great week...


6 comments:

  1. Hi Alison! Your Margherita pizza is to die for, yummy, delicious and so very well done!! It looks definately like a real one......now I'm mouthwatering, thankfully it's almost time for dinner here ;O!
    Thank you for sharing your tips on how to handle old crumbly Fimo clay for recycling, I didn't know this until now! Regarding your opinion about tuto's......I'm your man, eh woman, there is a lot to learn about how to do/make Fimo miniatures on the net. It's true that many of us forget that aptitude and talent are important for this things: you are born with it, or not. You can't learn it, if you totally have no talent, or aptitude for it. You are so right about that, thanks for pouring my opinion about this issue into correct English :D!
    Wishing you a nice Sunday and week ahead!
    Warm hug from a stormy Netherlands!
    Ilona

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    1. Hi Ilona! I do hope that the northern areas gets rewarded with a glorious spring and summer for putting up with such cold, brrrrrr. I'm ready to change my blog header ;^)

      I'm a realist - just wish some clay artists would be more honest with themselves as to whether their skills and knowledge are enough to teach via online tutorials. There are so many worthy tutorials online but an equal amount that aren't. As for me, I think I'm not yet worthy :^)

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  2. Your pizza looks like the ones I overdosed on while on a cruise. It was Margherita. It makes sense to me if you make these for a profit that you would not give out your trade secrets! LOL

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    1. Hey grandmommy! Overdosing on Margherita pizza sounds like heaven to me :^D

      I'm not worried about sharing secrets; rather, I would worry that what I may decide to share may not be a technique or tip unique or exclusive to me as I don't know what other miniaturists have developed or how they work. Sometimes I think it just opens up a whole new can of worms, there seems to be a lot of sensitive souls online that misunderstand stuff or are easily offended. Not able to spend a lot of time online these days, wouldn't be able to get my work done ;^)

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  3. Wow, your pizza looks like a real food, not miniature made from polymer clay.

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