Ann's Dollhouse Dreams

Enticed by a photo on my favorite coffee shop Instagram of a beautiful red mug filled to the brim with hot cocoa, topped with whipped cream, and embellished with cheerful red and white peppermint candy crumbs, I decided to make myself a cup of hot cocoa--mini style using Fimo soft polymer clay. I found two great YouTube tutorials to learn how to create my mugs. Both are great tutorials, but one worked best for me, Ashly DIY, while This Charming Stuff , one of my favorite clay artists, has a great tutorial, but I didn't get the best results.

So in this photo we see both methods. The top one is Ashly's method which uses scrap clay to fashion a foundation tube that is baked for 30 minutes then covered with foil to form a mold for the mugs. The white finished mug is my model mug, ordered rom Factory Direct Crafts

For the second method, the red mugs use the same premise of creating a mold from scrap clay, baking it to harden it, then wrapping the clay around the foil covered mold and baking it again. I liked this method because I could vary the shape of the mugs to create the taller mugs. 

So let's begin and see how things turned out.

I have plenty of scrap clay and I welcome any chance to use it up.

So here are four mugs that I created using Ashley's method.  

Roll out a length of clay and cut the width for the height of the mug. I tried to get my mugs the size of my example. Wrap that clay around the hardened mold, trying not to dent or crumple the clay. By now my clay has become quite soft from the warmth of my hands. It the clay gets really soft and hard to work, it can be chilled for 10 or 15 minutes to firm it up.

Once the handles are attached, the mugs are ready to bake: 230 degrees F for 30 minutes--or the recommended temperature and time according to clay package. I baked the red ones at 275 and they cracked.

 

I made two white mugs with better results. I wanted smaller mugs, but I'm sure they they are much smaller. I created a new mold and baked these at the correct temperature for better results.

Method 2 works on the same principle: create a mold out of scrap clay, cover with foil and bake to harden.  This artist then rolls out thin--key word "thin"--sheets that she wraps around the mold and rebakes, as my photos show. Again 230 F for 30 minutes.

Once baked mugs have cooled, she cut the top off and easily removed the mold from the center of the cup.

        

You can see my results. Disappointing. A massive fail. I was so disappointed and threw these in the trash. I didn't roll my clay thin enough and the the narrow opening at the top made it impossible to grab the mold to remove it.

 

                   

Next, fill the cooled mugs--pick the best ones of your batches--fill about 3/4 the way with more scrap clay. 

So engrossed in my work, I forgot to photograph this step, but the Ashley tutorial will show you: use Sculpty or Fimo liquid clay with chocolate pastel dust mixed in, which you will dab on top of the scrap clay, covering it. Insert a candy cane and top with a bit whipped cream--white clay thinned down a bit with liquid clay and sculpted into a dollop or shape tiny marshmallows. Bake again to set the the liquid Fimo and to secure the candy cane in place.

I had to make the candy canes, too. Really very easy: roll out a thin rope of white and one of red (or green) then simply twist them together. Here the mug of hot cocoa and the candies that I made were ready to bake: 230F for 10- 15 minutes.

I had fun making more candy canes, suckers, ribbon candy and hard candies and putting them in little jars, making me wonder if maybe some day I might create a candy store. 

My mugs look a bit rustic, certainly hand made, but while I was out shopping yesterday, I found a mug that had been purposed designed with that handmade, imperfect charm. I felt better about my own little mugs. I finished the red ones with a coat of polymer glaze to make them shine.

Merry Christmas friends. It's been such a fun and exciting year for us in our miniature studios. I've enjoyed watching you build, create, discover, and thankful that you have taken the time share your work with us. 

I didn't decorate my little village of houses in the basement, but I will share with you my Christmas village that I set up every year.

Have a joyous holiday season. See you next year.