Three.

Three.

It is my first Etsy treasury ever!

Please give it some love by popping into the shops of the various artists' featured, or leaving a comment! :)

Miniature cake stand!

I really can't think of a creative title. :(

The first non-food miniature I've listed on Etsy! :) 

The miniature cake stand is in an antique brass colour with a 6-petal punch on the cake plate, and a pretty petal-shaped base. 

 

It displays pastries and cakes beautifully, with dainty embossed details around the cake plate.

My boyfriend has been dropping hints that the matchstick that keeps appearing in my photos should be done away with, and that I should find some other item to display scale.

And some kind readers have suggested that I use a finger instead, so here ya go! :)

when life-sized meets 12th scale.

this is a somewhat short story of a happy happy collaboration. :)

So I chanced upon this extremely pretty life-sized cake on Flickr one day, and was immediately amazed with PetalsweetCakes' entourage of wonderful photos, especially in the area of sugarpaste flowers.

 A wave of inspiration hit me and I was really eager to start sculpting a miniature one, just like hers. And so in my Flickr comment where I gushed crazily about her talent, I also sought for her permission to 'copy' her cake design.

(it's sad that 'copy' is now a bad word, all thanks to the abusers.)

 Jacqueline, the owner of PetalsweetCakes, sent me a lovely Flickr mail and soon enough, I got to sculpting on the miniature version!

Elegant Peony Cake in 12th scale.

 As I gently sculpted peony petal after peony petal, I thought the final peony looked big enough.

But alas! (hahaha, somehow I feel like an old pirate saying that.) The miniature peony is still significantly smaller than the real-life peony.

 For a while, I was engaged in a futile search for miniature ribbons, which Jacqueline had wrapped around the life-sized cake. And so I could only sculpt in the likeness of sugarpaste ribbons, in as close a color shade as I could match with the life-sized ribbons.

Even with all of the deviations from the different cakes, I was mighty pleased with my finished sculpt. Well, I did not plan for the cakes to look entirely alike, as the Elegant Peony Cake was more of an inspired piece than an exact replica. :)

The miniature cake measures at 1.7cm in height (from top of peony to cake base), and 1.5cm in diameter.

But I'm sure the life-size cake must taste a billion times better than its miniature version! :)

If you live in La Jolla, California, you ought to contact Jacqueline for her fabulous sugarpaste flower designs! They are mindblowingly amazing, just go look at her Flickr photos!

If you're interested in learning how to make your own, she is also preparing to be a teacher in sugarpaste decorations, so go ahead and contact her!

Damn, I wish I lived near you too, Jacqueline!

the most romantic fruit - Strawberry.

February the fourteenth is coming!

and the online world is just exploding with valentine-related items in preparation of cupid's festival.

Right after I listed this cupcake on Etsy, I clicked on 'recently listed'
and seriously, there were more strawberries than I could count!

 Of course I got sucked into the Valentine whirlwind and ended up naming this cupcake

'Romantic Strawberry Swirl Cupcake'.

 

 

I'm trying to think of a fruit that is more linked to romance than strawberry, and can't come up with any other.

Any ideas? :)

Chocolate-dipped strawberries, strawberries and cream, strawberry cake.

They all seem to have some kind of love connotation.

 

I'm hungry for some strawberry desserts suddenly. and it's 1am now, not a good idea. :(

The strawberry cupcakes measure at 0.6cm in diameter of base and
0.8cm in average height, from top of strawberry to bottom of base.

Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Yes, it is a mouthful.

(and an alliteration too, my English teacher will be proud. :D)

These are miniature cookies, entirely handsculpted by me with polymer clay.

They measure at 0.6cm in average diameter.

I want a real-life sized glass cookie jar too!

Everytime I see this shot, I imagine a kid climbing onto a stool and looking down at all those cookies, while trying to fit his little fat hand in to steal one. :)

If anyone had suggestions for what I could use besides a matchstick to show scale,

I would really appreciate it!

This miniature glass cookie jar measures 2.3cm in height.

 

Nom nom nom.

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I am currently almost suffocating in the pineapple-butterish aroma that keeps wafting out of the kitchen, as my mom is keeping busy with her pineapple pastry orders.

-gasps for air.

I feel like an over-zealous baker..

who probably had all the pages in her cooking book torn out, except for the TART section.

I need to apologise to my dear readers.

Day after day, entry after entry, I promise that you will be seeing the last of the tarts.

And that never seems to happen, as I update over and over again with what-else, but tarts and more tarts.

2010 shall be the year of kept promises.

Thus, I have decided that I shall NEVER promise that I would never blog/sculpt anything else again.

I figured out that was probably the safest way to get through this year, heh.

Plus, I think I'm falling in love with sculpting tarts all over again. 

It's an odd kind of fun to run my fingers along the even little tart ridges, brushing the pale tart skin with shades of ochres and browns.

And of course, scooping 'cream' and arranging the miniature garnishes. :)

So here's a miniature sugar-topped strawberry tart,

measuring at 2cm across in diameter as requested by my lovely customer.

I made it onto a local newspaper!

Hello to everyone who popped in from Lian He Zao Bao zbNOW!Do browse through my blog and feel free to leave comments if you like what you see! :)

Here's just a few of my favourite sculpts to celebrate this momentous (yes, in my books) event!

And my main quote in the article, was about how I got hungrier as I sculpt late into the night.

Haha, now everybody's going to know what a glutton I am! :P

Oh, and of course it was repeatedly stated in the article that my sculpts are no bigger than a 5-cent coin. Which is true! Look at them beside a regular matchstick.

And now I'm just going to give myself a pat on my back.

:)

2009 Christmas orders.

It has been barely a month since Christmas, but the whole 2009-2010 makes last Christmas sound ancient!

And so, I've decided I had no more time to waste on posting photos of some of the commissioned orders I received during Christmas.

This might be a surprise to some, but about half of my commissioned orders are non-food sculpts.

Let the photos below be inspiration for your Valentine's gifts too! :)

An army of earrings!

In my schooldays, I was very fond of doodling swirly designs on my notepads.

Therefore, I was really happy when a customer requested for a monochromatic swirl earring.

 

A necklace charm, decked out in snowdrops and a christmassy red.

 

bowl 'em over. (i used the exact same phrase in one of my old posts!)

 

The simple, classic FAT heart. :)

 

A miniature chanel bag replica.

Your answer to all the crazily expensive gift requests from friends. :)

Of all the earrings I sculpted, I wanted to keep this bright, cherry one for myself the most.

There were a few more Christmas orders besides those shown here, including a crazy, grinning rabbit's head with blood all over his white cheeks. I was contemplating if I should post the photo, but decided the blood stains looked a tad too realistic for this blog. heh.

for the curious (Kiva, you come to mind I don't know why haha!), click here to see what the necklace pendant was modelled after.

far cry from those pretty, innocent tarts eh! :P

REAL food for once.

I would love to claim that all of these are miniatures that I sculpted.

But I'm an honest fellow, so nah. :P

This is a vanilla chiffon cake roll from a old-school bakery.

and it is SO GOOD.

The cake is awesomely soft and fluffy, and there's this light buttery vanilla fragrance emanating from the roll (which was why I kept opening the cake box and allowing the fragrance to fill the car).

 I thought the cream design looked like a butterfly (vaguely) from this perspective, but my mom immediately exclaimed, "Whose butt is this!" when she saw the photo.

-___-

Over here in Singapore, Chinese New Year preparations are gradually underway as people start stocking up on angbaos/red packets, and changing cushion covers, baking festive goodies..

The latter is what has been keeping my mom busy these days.

It's almost a tradition for us now. A few weeks before CNY, my mom will start buying flour, eggs, fresh pineapple meat.. and then the fun starts in the kitchen.

(for me at least!)

While Mom gets dusted with flour and greasy with butter, I would occasionally pop into the kitchen, to nip at some of the freshly baked, and piping hot tarts.

In my defense, it's really hard to resist the strong fragrance wafting from the oven! :P

 

And she would give away bottles and bottles of the tarts (I know they look like balls but I refuse to call them that) to friends and relatives every year.

This year, Mom has finally wisened up and started offering them for sale instead.

The tendrils of sweet pineapple flesh, tickling your every tastebud

as you let the buttery pastry melt in your mouth, leaving a fragrant satisfying aftertaste.

Repeat cycle as your hands reach for the next tart.

 

 They are priced at SGD$13/bottle.

Satisfaction vouched by years of relatives and friends gorging them down every year.

AWESOME. :)

 

If you're in Singapore and would like some, do email me at joce_1987@hotmail.com!

Self-collection at Bukit Batok MRT Station. :)

My fingers are itching to recreate the vanilla chiffon roll and pineapple pastry in miniature already.