Squirrels Miniature Workshops

Squirrels Miniature
Workshops

As I promised on an earlier page there will be workshops produced at intervals to enable you to have a go! Here is one.
Workshop 1 - Mrs. Bunn's Baking

Personally, I love baking but unfortunately I then have to eat it, so this is a calorie free way of producing food that looks good enough to eat but in 1/12th scale!

Large fruit pie
Custard tarts
Jam tarts
Mince pies
Pork pies
Cornish pasties

Ingredients
(Don't forget that these are all very tiny and could be a choking hazard so keep them away from children)

Small amount of Das or another self-hardening clay in both white and terracotta

A selection of "plates" - these could be ready manufactured or large buttons in an appropriate colour and design
A selection of tiny coloured seed beads for fruit in the fruit pies. (The colours are dependant on the type of fruit you are making)
Cocktail stick
Quick drying water based varnish in a satin finish - medium oak colour
Small paint brush
Bottled beer caps (Not a beer drinker? Then ask around amongst your friends or if you haven't got the 'bottle' they can be purchased from any shop that stocks home brewing equipment)
Silver felt tip pen or paint
Yellow and red nail varnish (If you or your relations don't have any you could use acrylic paint!)
Small stencil brush
Small amount of acrylic paints in brown, white or green.
A selection of those blister pack containers used to supply tablets that make it very difficult, if you have arthritis, to undo them! (Any useful friends or relatives could be a source of materials here too!)
A fine, sharp knife, (if you don't want to use the best kitchen knives get yourself a craft knife).
Smooth working surface such as a ceramic tile
Heaps of patience, sense of fun and several cups of coffee or tea

Large fruit pie

Check the beer cap for a brewers name, if there is one cover it over with silver felt tip or another colour of acrylic paint that makes the cap looks like oven-to-tableware. Let it dry thoroughly.
Take a piece of white air drying clay the size of a teaspoon, and add a smaller piece - the size of your little finger nail, of terracotta and mix together until the colours are blended.
Press the blended clay into the beer cap, making sure that there is enough to have a gently rounded top surface.
With the knife cut out a small section as if you were dividing the pie into pieces for eating!
Using the end of the cocktail stick gently mark little indentations around the edge of the pie.
Press a few of the seed beads into the cut edges to look as if the pie is full of fruit.
Leave it to dry overnight. (Don't worry if the surface of the pie has cracked as it dries out - real pastry can do that too as it cooks).
Once the pie is completely dried out put some PVA glue in the space that you cut out earlier and put a few more beads on it. Don't worry about the white colour of the glue, it will dry clear.
Once the glue has dried (or before if you can't wait!) lightly paint the top of the pie 'crust' with the varnish, leaving the cut edges bare.

(If you would like a pie that has not had a slice taken out of it ignore the steps about cutting a section out and putting seed beads in the space)

Jam or custard tarts

Clean off as much of the foil or paper from the tablet blister packs as possible. The rounded end of a wooden spoon or pencil will be useful if you need to press the blisters back into shape.
Take a tablespoon of white air-drying clay and a thumbnail sized piece of terracotta clay and mix together thoroughly.
Pinch off a small piece of the clay that looks slightly larger than the tablet hole. Roll it into a ball and place in the hole. Repeat until all the clay is used. *
Take the dowel or pencil end (which should be slightly smaller than the size of the finished tart) and gently press into the balls of clay to leave a small space for the 'jam'. The sides of the clay pieces may rise a little and crack - do not worry.
Leave to harden overnight
With the tarts still in the holder paint them with the varnish, and leave to dry again.
Once dry, turn out the tarts and varnish the underside. Leave to dry (sorry, but impatience could spoil them)
Turn the tarts back over and replace in the holder (it is easier to control them that way). For the jam tarts put a small blob of red nail varnish or paint in the space in the top; for the custard tarts put a blob of yellow nail varnish or paint in the space.
The jam tarts are now finished, but to complete the custard tarts use the stiff stencil brush and using brown paint lightly dab a few flecks of brown on top of the yellow custard to look like grated nutmeg.

Mince Pies and Individual Pork Pies

For these mouthwatering delicacies follow the instructions for the jam tarts as far as the *
Lightly press your finger on the top of each pie, this should push a tiny amount of the crust over the edge of the holder to make a tiny pie crust round the edge.
For the pork pies mark two little holes in the crust (to let the steam out) and for the mince pies, as well as the pork pies, use the sharp end of the cocktail stick again to gently mark little indentations around the edge of the pies.
To make the pork pies look more realistic, use the sharp knife to cut out a little quadrant as you did with the fruit pie and leave it without varnish.
Leave to dry. Again don't worry if the crust cracks as it dries.
Once dry, varnish the top. Leave to dry again.
Turn out the pies and varnish the underside.

(To finish the tarts off place them on a large button that looks like a plate and with glue ensure that they are arranged and stuck down, as you would like to serve them)

Cornish Pasties

Take a piece of white air-drying clay about the size of a tablespoon
Add a piece of terracotta clay about the size of your little finger nail and mix both together until the clay is a uniform colour.
Take a piece of the mixed clay about twice the size that you used for the pork pies and roll it into a ball.
Firmly place the piece onto the tile or other working surface ensuring that it has a flat base.
Shape the piece as it stands flat on the working surface into a rough torpedo shape.
Using your fingers, very gently pinch a raised line of clay across the top of the pastie.
With the cocktail stick make slight indentations in the raised line.
Use the cocktail stick to gently press the raised sections towards alternate sides of the pastie.
Leave the pasties to dry overnight.
Varnish the pasties and allow to dry.

I would love to hear how you got on with the 'baking', and whether the directions were easy to follow or not. Feel free to email me with any problems, comments, alterations or suggestions.

Workshops 1 ¦ 2