Little Discoveries...

Alright, on your way to being a cheapskate, you're bound to make a few mistakes--clay that won't bake, things that are hideous allergy inducing, or maybe even a strange life form in the stuff that you mix. It's bound to happen. Although, you're also bound to find something ingenious as well. Surprised? You shouldn't be. It's called: inventing. Sure, they're probably accidents, but hey, whatever works.

Well, here are a few things I've accidentally invented:

1. Flexible Clay:
                    Remember when I told you that I've never over used cooking oil to condition my clay? Well, I accidentally did recently, and since I'm a cheapskate who doesn't want to waste any bit of clay, I went ahead and baked it. When it came out, I thought I had epically failed. The clay came out soft, even though it was starting to smell a little burnt (by the way, I use a toaster. Ovens are just expensive.). I left them some of them to cool, others, I chucked into water (this is a technique called tempering. Only, in tempering, the water should be ice cold. But since I'm not only cheap but lazy too, I grabbed some tap water and dunked them in.) After a while, I checked on them both, dried the wet ones, and discovered that the clay pieces had become flexible!

Now since this is what I do:

It's really important for some of my pieces to be a bit flexible--specially that Eiffel tower. Here's another picture so you can see how important it is for that Eiffel tower to remain flexible:

See that? Oh, by the way, this is a ring--anyway, in the hands of a klutz like me, that Eiffel tower would break if I didn't take care. I try my best to take care, I really do, but sometimes I can't. And since I sell these things, I can't possibly blame the customer if these things break. And so the flexi-clay (as I now call it--heeheehee) is such a big thing for me. By the way, for those who have started using cooking oil to soften her clay as I suggested in this clay softener replacement post, don't worry--even if the clay is flexible, it remains strong and really baked. I wore this ring today for a whole day of commuting, buying stuff, and other such things, and it came back home in one piece.

Word of Caution: I STILL DO NOT SUGGEST PUTTING TOO MUCH OIL. TRY NOT TO USE TOO MUCH.


2. The Perfect Chocolate Sheen:
               
               Alright, so when I first started using polymer, I mistakenly thought any kind of varnish would work. I bought a huge can of Boysen Varnish, and to make the long story short, it made some of my pieces sticky. SOME. I shall repeat: ONLY SOME. I'll put up a post for Boysen Varnish somewhere later, but just to let you guys know, I'm still using it for some of my pieces which I really want some sort of a plastic-sheen on. Like this one:

See? All shiny and pretty. Anyway, if you ever come across my shop, you'll see that I love making food miniatures. The sweeter, the better. Candies, breads, donuts, pastries, and of course--chocolate. As I scoured the internet for more inspirations in making my sweets, I realized something. REAL CHOCOLATE IS NOT THAT SHINY.

Why, this is borderline dull! I think the only times chocolate is suuuuuper shiny is when 1.) It's dressed by food stylists to make them seem yummier on ads, so we'd buy them, or 2) when it's in semi-liquid or liquid form, like this:

So a little add-on for my previous post for the varnishes/sealants, using Future Floor Polish a.k.a Pledge Wipe n' Shine here in the Philippines gives you a more matte, more realistic finish for your chocolate pieces.

Damn, now I gotta ruin my diet and find some edible chocolate to munch on. >.>