The Blue Bottle Tree

I came across this article while searching for something else, but it's amazing! I had been wondering if I could use alcohol inks to color clay and this covers that topic extensively. This site also has a bunch of awesome tutorials!

Coloring Translucent Clay with Alcohol Inks

Ginger at The Blue Bottle Tree made this bracelet with clay and ink

Go check it out! I'll definitely be giving this a try if I can ever find my stash of alcohol inks. I expect the results to be much more vivid than coloring translucent clay with colored clay or even chalks. I wonder if I could figure out a way to get it into TLS for more vivid pie fillings and such.


I have tons of links and tutorials and articles saved and will be sharing them with you all (not all at once! I'd probably kill the internet ha). Enjoy!

Silicone!

Last night I was playing around with silicone, experimenting with it as a frosting. It was very sticky and stinky and I didn't have any mineral spirits on hand to clean up with so I ended up trashing my piping tip but oh well (they're only $1 anyway).

I also experimented with trying to make a "wrapper" effect on the cupcakes. It came out very well! I will definitely be making more cupcakes in this style.

I got a little crazy with the frosting on the vanilla cupcake, but I think they came out very well! I was going to put "chocolate sauce" on the chocolate one with brown puffy paint but forgot. oops. I also did a little practicing piping fancy lines like you would for a cake and the effect was awesome! This is so much easier than my usual way of making frosting too. Soon I will try tinting the silicone with paint. Gotta figure out how to make these into charms too.

Pie!

Here's my most recent project - pies!

I already had on hand some silver bottlecaps (from making miniature cake stands) that made perfect pie shells. I just drilled a hole for the charm loop.

Here's my first ever cherry pie:

Sorry, it's just a quick snapshot with my cell phone. I made each and every one of those cherries and mixed with liquid clay for the filling. This was also an experiment in using Diamond Glaze mixed with food coloring and it worked quite nicely!


And some more pie...

I love it! The letters were hard for me to make so small, they could definitely use some work, but it was my first try at words. I saw a picture somewhere on the internet of a real pie someone made with this saying in the crust and I knew it would make a perfect pendant. Despite the difficulty and how long it took me to make it, I will probably be making more of these to sell!

So, what's your favorite flavor of pie?

Ads!

A couple days ago, I received the 2 acrylic sign holders I ordered. I got 5x7 standing signs with a little business card thing on the front.

My friend works at Cinnabon in the mall here, and after I made him a custom cinnamon roll pendant his boss requested pendants for everyone! And they offered to put my little sign on their counter! Even though the mall is an hour away from here, it's basically all there is to do without driving 2+ hours away so I'm sure this will be a great opportunity.

My fiance works at Aaron's (a furniture leasing place) and his boss also offered to advertise my business! I know the owners of a local bead store and antique shop, maybe one day I'll be confident enough to propose a business opportunity to them too. But for now I'm just gonna stick with my tiny, brand-new business and try to build some inventory.

Here's a picture I'm thinking of putting on my ad!

Now you can get an idea for the things I make! There's some cupcakes, truffles, cake slices, and even a strawberry shortcake hiding in there. Cupcakes were going to be my main thing, but I've been having so much fun trying new things lately that I'll definitely be expanding.

And I'm open to critiques on this photo (or any photo!) and ideas or anything you have to say really. Thanks!

Welcome!

Hey there! I'm Heather Hoffman and I run a business called Smalley Studios. I make tiny polymer clay charms, mainly of cupcakes, truffles, cakes, and other foods. This is my first blog post ever, so please bear with me!

Maybe I'll kick off with a quick Q&A so you can get to know me? Is that how this works? Wow, I'm only 21 you'd think I'd be better at this techno-stuff ha.

Q: Why "Smalley Studios?"
A: My fiance's last name is Smalley, so eventually that will be my name! I also like the kinda play-on-words Smalley..small..like my teeny tiny charms. I chose the "Studios" part for alliteration, and to not limit my products by my business name. If sometime I get back into jewelry-making or lampworking or other mediums, Smalley Studios could encompass all of that. I'm pretty eclectic about my mediums.

Q: Where else can I find or contact you?
A: My Etsy store is SmalleyStudios.etsy.com, and I have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SmalleyStudios. You can contact me through either of those websites, or here, or my email SmalleyStudios (at) verizon.net.

Q: Why only food?
A: Well, I don't strictly make food. I'm trying to expand my horizons a little bit, but I very much enjoy food for some reason. Fake food was my favorite as a child, and I loved baking as I got older. As I got more into crafting and eventually polymer clay, I became enraptured by miniature food and charms.

Q: Do you take custom orders?
A: Yes! I love custom orders! Contact me through here, etsy, facebook, or email to arrange a custom order.

Q: Ok, I see a lot of words. Where are the pics?!
A: I'm getting there! I just kind of sat down and decided to start a blog, I'll have to get together some post-worthy pictures and I guess write something about them.

Thanks for visiting! I plan to update frequently with new products, tutorials, links to stuff I like and/or have learned from, giveaways, ideas and works in progress, and more!