Sweets On Display

You might discern from the title of this post that I have been busy making some sweets!! It's been snowing, it's been frigid cold, and it seemed the right time to hunker down and create!! Here's what's been happening at my kitchen table!

I've had on my list-to-make candy sticks for quite some time. I used to love looking at the twirling colors in candy stores, and I *always* wanted one of the big, rainbow-colored unicorn horn suckers. My parents always thought they were too big to be eaten. And, they were probably right. I'm certain they avoided a really sticky mess in various places around our house simply by saying, "No" to the request when I asked for one! So, I decided to make a mess of them! I started with green and white ones for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. Then, I moved to other colors ...

... until I got out the rainbow!

The laptop isn't for viewing tutorials. It's for
viewing Friday Night Lights.

I know you can already see them on the first picture. I still like the second picture, though, because I love all of the colors spread out in front of me! You can also see the start of the process at the bottom of the picture. I rolled out strings of clay almost as thin as I could get them before lining them up next to each other. From there, I twisted very gently and learned as I went to see how much I could twist before breaking it and how much small tugging needed to happen to stretch it a little. I cut them to a desired, but not measured, size with an X-acto knife. The process was a trial and error the entire time, but I love the outcomes!

You can also see in the picture teeny, tiny little rainbow balls. I loved the colors so much that I didn't want to just ditch the scraps. So, I made some jawbreakers ...

... and some cookies, both flat and twisted:

I made the fudge a few days prior because The House seemed to have a chocolate deficit.

I love making these teeny tiny things!

You can see where it gets a little thin in the middle.
That's when I was getting a warning from the clay
to stop twisting or I will break.

And, I only lost one candy stick, one jawbreaker and one piece of fudge in the can of polycrylic. 😆 I dipped about a thousand, little Easter Eggs last year and lost not one. I guess I just made up for it.

You also see in the picture that I made Shamrock cookies. I really have absolutely zero personal investment in celebrating St. Patrick's Day, but I love decorating. So, these needed to be made!

The real show stopper was made yesterday! I've seen rainbow layer cakes on many miniature sites and stores, and I decided I needed to make one of my own! I picked out or mixed colors, and then I worked them to get them nice and soft. Then, I taped two pieces of balsa wood down so I'd have something to create a reasonably similar thickness of the layers:

I use that pen to roll out clay because it has no indentations for brand or type of pen. It's perfectly smooth and works famously! By rolling the pen on the balsa, I never rolled too thin.

I also rolled out layers for icing. I started those with the same method before picking it up and pulling it thinner -- kind of like pulling pizza dough. Then, all of the layers were stacked. I probably could have taken more time to even out the pieces so they were easier to align on top of each other. But, I didn't. From there, I put a bottle cap on top of the stack, drew around it with a toothpick, and then I cut the circle with an X-acto knife straight up and down. The result?

The big step was complete! I get the cake structure looks like a disaster. It did get pulled a little as I got the cake part away from the rest of the stack. But, that's what reshaping is for! I also fully expected the sides to look wonky from the cutting, but that's what icing is for, amight? I rolled out a piece of white clay big enough to cover the whole cake, and then I worked a metal ball tool over it to create the frosted-by-hand look:

I pushed excess up around the edge for the bottom icing. It looks very cool, but it also immediately made the cake too big to fit on the plate I intended. Whoopsie. hahahaha!

Then, it was time to slice it! Tip: Serrated knives work best for cutting through clay because they don't pull the clay as much as a smooth blade does. Ready?!

Here's the reveal!

It totally worked! But, the opening on the cake itself did not satisfy me. So, I went in for another piece:

NOW the fabulous inside can really be seen!! I just love it! I left the serrated marks on it because I liked the texture. I experimented on some scrap of the layered clay to create the cake texture, and it just messed with the color layers a little too much. I didn't want to screw this up, so I did not touch it further! I also made an ice box cake with some of the scrap because I just had to use more!

These slices got whipped cream but no frosting:

I want to dive into a piece of this!! Who's with me?!

I still have the rest of the scraps while my brain churns on how to use more of it. Cupcakes? I really don't know, but I couldn't stand to toss it into the mixed-up scrap pile yet!

With energy remaining to create, I went to the other end of the spectrum in terms of color, and I made a bundt cake:

The icing got a little pale after baking the piece, so I painted it today while finding a whole new respect for the people in charge of hand-painting miniatures:

I felt SO satisfied after making these treats! Today, they are here for display. Soon? They'll be "in action"! Stay tuned!