Mini-food update... one and the only.

Hello! It's been too long..! 

Polymer clay has been... well, very far from me for a long long time... ): 

Daily stress and strenuous workload is killing me, gosh! I need some relaxed time so I can spend some good quality time focusing on these small little miniatures again...

Anyway, this would be one new little update from my crafting collection, inspired after craving for a good meal of steak. Hah!

Steak with fries and salad. Yum?

Oh, this also marks the 100th picture posted in this blog (if I ain't wrong). Yay!

Happy crafting everybody, and I will be back!!!

Cake series, first update!

Presenting my first cake series!

Four cakes lined up for a great shot :P

Well, the following cake had definitely taken up some hours from my life! With liquid clay, I sliced the raw cane one by one and put it on semi-cured frosting. I do hope it looks realistic and nice.

Strawberry cake. Yum.

And the next one was pretty easy, only that I had to have lemon slices in hand... And the frostings were not that bad using a small icing tip.

Lemon cheese cake.

 Well, this is easier, except the sprinkles. Sprinkles can be pre-made by slicing thin, cured polymer clay rolls of different colours.

Confetti cake.

 And last but not least, this. Note that the chocolate crumbs can also be pre-made by scraping cured brown clay blocks, and you just have to apply a thin layer of liquid clay to make them stick.

Black forest cake.

I was having more cakes to make in my mind, but I was badly engaged in my daily affairs. Will update again when I have time, after I settle down, hopefully.

Where to buy polymer clay in Malaysia?

(Updated: October 11, 2016)

After so many attempts to look for polymer clay in Malaysia, more specifically in KL, I almost gave up. Through many forums (old and newly posted ones), Q&A pages and everything, finally I found a few (literally a few) of them who can help you if you're equally lost as well.

1. Multifilla Art & Craft Supplies (Seri Kembangan; NEW branch: 10 Boulevard, PJ)

This is one of the shops that sell complete range of crafting products. Their websites say them all and it is run by an old lovely couple. They are very helpful and will guide you through if you're a beginner. They have the famous brands of polymer clay, including FIMO (soft, classic, effect), Premo, Sculpey, and some Kato Polyclay to begin with. They also sell all kinds of tools.

I bought some FIMO soft and FIMO classic along with eye pins from them. FIMO is a standardised brand so expect the clay to be of similar and standard quality compared to other clays. Kato is really hard for me; it took me a long time to just condition the clay.

Bear in mind standard branded clays are not cheap so if you're budget tight I suggest you to read on.

2. STAEDTLER Malaysia online shop @ Rakuten

This site has closed down along with the termination of Rakuten services in Malaysia.

3. Artfriend (The Gardens, the Curve)

A Singapore-based chain store selling a wide range of crafting supplies, from pencils, water colours, various paints, beads and chains, to miniature building materials. You can easily find any (almost, any) kind of clay-related products you're looking for in this shop, be it polymer clay (air dry clay, paper clay, etc.), glaze, clay tools, pasta machine (for clay), and more! It's really a fun place where I could spend hours in it, looking at each items, drooling, but not buying them... Yes, it could be expensive! (e.g. Silicone mold maker at price of more than a hundred bucks..!)

One note, the outlet in the Curve is much bigger, and spacious.  

4. Craft Haven (One Utama)

This is another physical shop that sells polymer clay and other art materials in a shopping mall. Will not comment much as I have not been to that place just yet, and will do if I have some time in the future.  

5.Claystation Yong

They sell all sorts of polymer clay at price about half of those branded clays. Her workshop is located along the main road in Setapak so it's not difficult to find. They also offer various tools and other crafting materials (especially felts).

They have recently put up an e-shop but I am no longer sure if the workshop is still open for walk-ins, though.

6. Malaysia Clay Art

An online shop that sells polymer clay, air dry clay, and related accessories/tools. Looks promising! Perfect if you prefer to get items delivered to your doorstep. At occassions you get some free tutorials via e-mails. They also organize some competitions occasionally with prizes in the form of polymer clay for what you have created! :)

7. Beading.my

This is an online shop, mainly focusing on selling tools and miscellaneous for beads and/or jewellery making. Type "polymer clay" in the search bar and you will find FIMO and Monsterkraft. What's best is that they provide shipping nationwide and internationally. 

Please bear in mind that there are more shops to be discovered especially the art workshops or studios! Forgive me if I have not include them here, and do drop me a comment below so as to benefit everyone else (: I hope the summary above saves some of your time. Feel free to shower in more ideas!

Where to buy polymer clay in Malaysia?

(Updated as at October 11, 2016)

After so many attempts to look for polymer clay in Malaysia, more specifically in KL, I almost gave up. Through many forums (old and newly posted ones), Q&A pages and everything, finally I found a few (literally a few) of them who can help you if you're equally lost as well.

1. Multifilla Art & Craft Supplies (Seri Kembangan; NEW branch: 10 Boulevard, PJ)

This is one of the shops that sell complete range of crafting products. Their websites say them all and it is run by an old lovely couple. They are very helpful and will guide you through if you're a beginner. They have the famous brands of polymer clay, including FIMO (soft, classic, effect), Premo, Sculpey, and some Kato Polyclay to begin with. They also sell all kinds of tools.

I bought some FIMO soft and FIMO classic along with eye pins from them. FIMO is a standardised brand so expect the clay to be of similar and standard quality compared to other clays. Kato is really hard for me; it took me a long time to just condition the clay.

Bear in mind standard branded clays are not cheap so if you're budget tight I suggest you to read on.

2. STAEDTLER Malaysia online shop @ Rakuten

This site has closed down along with the termination of Rakuten services in Malaysia.

3. Artfriend (The Gardens, the Curve)

A Singapore-based chain store selling a wide range of crafting supplies, from pencils, water colours, various paints, beads and chains, to miniature building materials. You can easily find any (almost, any) kind of clay-related products you're looking for in this shop, be it polymer clay (air dry clay, paper clay, etc.), glaze, clay tools, pasta machine (for clay), and more! It's really a fun place where I could spend hours in it, looking at each items, drooling, but not buying them... Yes, it could be expensive! (e.g. Silicone mold maker at price of more than a hundred bucks..!)

One note, the outlet in the Curve is much bigger, and spacious.  

4. Craft Haven (One Utama)

This is another physical shop that sells polymer clay and other art materials in a shopping mall. Will not comment much as I have not been to that place just yet, and will do if I have some time in the future.  

5.Claystation Yong

They sell all sorts of polymer clay at price about half of those branded clays. Her workshop is located along the main road in Setapak so it's not difficult to find. They also offer various tools and other crafting materials (especially felts).

They have recently put up an e-shop but I am no longer sure if the workshop is still open for walk-ins, though.

6. Malaysia Clay Art

An online shop that sells polymer clay, air dry clay, and related accessories/tools. Looks promising! Perfect if you prefer to get items delivered to your doorstep. At occassions you get some free tutorials via e-mails. They also organize some competitions occasionally with prizes in the form of polymer clay for what you have created! :)

7. Beading.my

This is an online shop, mainly focusing on selling tools and miscellaneous for beads and/or jewellery making. Type "polymer clay" in the search bar and you will find FIMO and Monsterkraft. What's best is that they provide shipping nationwide and internationally. 

Please bear in mind that there are more shops to be discovered especially the art workshops or studios! Forgive me if I have not include them here, and do drop me a comment below so as to benefit everyone else (: I hope the summary above saves some of your time. Feel free to shower in more ideas!

Cane update!

Started to work since August... And to sum up, busy, busy, busy!!! Luckily I managed to steal some time to realise some of my on-going ideas... Among them, fruit canes, at a higher level. I had an update on lemon canes somewhere in my blog, and a not-so-nice kiwi cane previously; and I have to say, cane making is not an easy task!

Enough of words, pictures below. Time for some sleep for another working day tomorrow. (Did I mention today's a public holiday here?)

Strawberry and banana slices, checked.

On a side note, I just bought a new exacto knife from local bookstore at RM 6.90; after my previous knife's handle got misshaped by the heat from my hair dryer... Erh, well, okay, I was using it to semi-cure some clay projects for better handling and touch-ups... But that will be updated as a series later. 

Alrighty, see you then!

Molding miniature plate and bowl with oyumaru - tutorial & review

Today I will be fulfilling my promise to write a review on the oyumaru I recently acquired from the art supplies. With that I will be doing the review by making some molds for plates and bowls, which are essential for miniature food makers. The plate and bowl shapes were inspired by SugarCharmShop.

Before everything, make a few plate/bowl bottoms using scrap polymer clay and bake accordingly. Cool the polymer clay before use.

1. Pre-baked plate, bowl, and cup bottoms.

Then, heat up some water in a pot to a minimum of 80 degree Celcius. Pop in the oyumaru and leave for few minutes (depending on the thickness of the oyumaru bar).

2. Heat the oyumaru in hot water.

Using a pair of chopsticks or skewer (or anything you'd wish), pull out the oyumaru. The oyumaru should be easily bent or changed in shape when taken out. Drain the hot water away using a towel or a paper towel.

3. Drain the hot water using paper towel. I'd recommend towel as this piece
of oyumaru tends to catch bits of the paper towel.

Next, quickly knead the warm oyumaru into a ball and remove possible air bubble trapped within. Smooth out the ball to avoid cracks in the mold later.

4. Knead oyumaru into a smooth ball while it's warm.

Flatten the kneaded oyumaru slightly or to fit to your desired mold shape. In this picture I flattened it pretty much to make a plate mold.

5. Flatten the oyumaru to fit the item to be molded.

Press the plate/bowl/cup into the oyumaru (while it's warm) while making sure the oyumaru wraps tightly around the item. Then, flatten out the excess oyumaru around the item to make the mold thinner (increasing its flexibility later).

6. Press in the item to make the mold.

I always like to flip the molds over and flatten them again to have a smooth and thin top surface around the mold so it will be easier to pull out my products later.

7. Flipper over for a smooth top.

Wait for 20 minutes to cool the oyumaru down. Do not pull the item off when it's still warm or the mold shape will be distorted. If you're impatient, run tap water on the oyumaru to speed up the cooling. After the oyumaru is cool enough, gently remove the items from the molds.

8. Plate, bowl, and cup; and their respective molds.

And, done!

Now let's try to make a cup out of it. I pushed a small ball of scrap clay into the mold, and used a ball tool to make the cup shape.

Raw polymer clay in mold, shaped using a ball tool.

I tried to pull the clay out, but with no success as the cup was too thin, and that the shape would be destroyed when I tried to pop the cup out by flexing the oyumaru mold. As such, I'd recommend some releasing agent (baby oil, cornstarch, or water if it suits you). You can also put them into freezer to harden the clay a little. Alternatively, like me, I popped the oyumaru back into boiling water for another 5 minutes to semi-cure the polymer clay before cooling and popping it out. But this also means that your mold will have to be remade afterwards.

Then the cup was sanded a little to make it more presentable. The cup shape was a bit off on the top, which means that my first cup for the mold wasn't good enough (see the rounded edge on the top edge). Will improve on that!

The mold, and the cups.

Notes after using oyumaru:

1. Cheap when compared to Silicone putty (nearly RM 100 here?!).
2. They are reusable. This makes another strong point to save some money - not happy? Just reheat it.
3. If you leave the oyumaru in boiling and bubbling water, your oyumaru will likely trap the bubbles and will look bubbly as well after.
4. The flexibility of the oyumaru is acceptable, but less so when it's too thick. So always try to have a flattened out area so you can flex the mold better.

Shopping.., again!

I was looking for oyumaru all around when I finally came to know about the reusable features of these plastic compounds, but after looking around in Daiso @ the Curve, and several others in Klang Valley, I finally gave up and took my trip to Multifilla at Balakong, and then dropped by at the Mines' Daiso again just for a cooking pot.

All stuffed into a pot!

Now let's go through one by one. . .

Oyumaru, packed in DIY sushi packs.

On a closer look this would be my packs of oyumaru. Multifilla sells two bars in a packet at RM 7.50; but my kind boyfriend (smart enough) pointed to these sushi packs and asked if these were also oyumaru to make sushi ("so cute!"). So it crossed my mind to take these instead, since I will get 3 bars in the pack at the price of only RM 8.50.

Will be writing a tutorial and/or review on these oyumaru later on.

(EDIT: Good news for everyone out there was that I actually found oyumaru in the Daiso of the Mines! It's at RM 5 for two. *growls* Check out the stationery section. It would be hard to find as it was small, and hung along with other not-so-relevant stuffs.)

Cooking pot from Daiso. RM 5 only.

So the cooking pot is what I will be using for boiling my oyumarus. Just to be safe as to not use the same pot for cooking.

Finally determinedly bought TLS. RM 28. Phew.

And thanks to my trip to Multifilla where everything for clay seems so interesting... And that this item was hung right above the oyumarus... Finally, I got my hands onto TLS that I have been longing for! Sauces, cream, and everything, wait for me! Yay! I am not really sure of the price of TLS in Artfriend, but if you know, please let us know so we could compare them. :)

The old Fimo soft bar in 25 g.

And finally a gold bar on sale for RM 5 each. Took one to keep just in case I start to make some metal-coloured stuffs. These are old old bars, thus on sale; but nonetheless conditionable (though time consuming).

Anyway, I figured that my rate of polymer clay projects production are far slower than my purchasing rate! Ouch! I should be controlling myself so I don't get into financial trouble before my pay comes! :P

Till then, peace!