Hot Cocoa and Coffee for the Dollhouse

Watch  the video here. 

This week I admit I waited until the last minute to make my video. Normally I record my videos early in the week to upload on Sunday. This time I have been so busy that it was way too easy to procrastinate on video making. Hopefully I still was able to make an informative video for you to enjoy.

I find that to make beverages of any kind I usually use some kind of paint. If the beverage is clear then I usually use some kind of glass paint and if it is opaque I use a craft paint. There are a couple of secrets to success in making beverages this way. By far the most important to pick the right color. If you are in doubt do a sample and compare it to the real thing. It is much better to make a mistake on a work tile than in a container that you now need to clean out in order to use a better color. The second rule is to work in thin layers. The thinner you layer your paint the less of a divot will for in the top. I was trying to hurry on the video so I actually used thicker layers than I normally would have. You can see the divot at the top of the cups. It is easy to fix, just add tiny drops of paint (with a toothpick) to fill in until it dries level. When you are using craft paint you will need to add a coat of clear (satin finish) coat to the top, craft paint dries matte and you do need some shine.

In the video I promised a story of a mistake I made a few years ago. I have been making mini beverages the way I show in this video for many years but I had watched a Youtube video on making hot cocoa using polymer clay. I thought it was good idea and shortly after watching that video I got a custom order for some hot cocoa in 1/6^th scale. (Barbie size) The lady that ordered it was going to ship me her mugs that she had custom made for her scene. They were beautiful when they came and a joy to work with. Since I had watched this video on a new way to make the cocoa I decided to try it out on a different set of 1/6^th scale mugs that I had on hand. I was so glad that I tried it on my own mugs because as the clay baked it split of my mugs all the way up the side. If I had done that to customer's mug it would have been a big problem. So the moral of this is, when you find a new technique for doing something try the process out before you commit to using an expensive mini!