Peppers

(Watch the Pepper video here)

For this week's video I am showing you how to make a few different kinds of peppers. I was originally going to do a bell pepper video and then catch the Sweet Mini peppers and the Jalapenos in later videos when time permitted. When I was picking up my peppers in the grocery store to have as models I realized that the different sizes were all the same colors. At that point I knew this had to be one video, no sense mixing exactly the same clay colors multiple times. Between the three kinds of peppers there are really only two main sizes/ shapes of peppers.

The one factor of combining the videos into one video that I didn't see far enough ahead to realize was the fact that I was setting myself up to make a bunch of peppers. I'm talking in the hundreds. Since I have other things to do besides making mini peppers this project took me a week and half working on them whenever I could justify it. By the end I really didn't want to ever see a pepper (real size or mini) ever again. LOL

When I planned the project I really wanted to use the bushel baskets that I showed you how to make a few weeks ago (same ones that the mushrooms are in) for the sweet mini peppers and the jalapenos. I knew the bell peppers would work wonderfully in the larger baskets. So I started making batches of mini peppers, huge batches. After every plate full was baked off I would think “OK, this will be enough to fill the basket” but no still not enough. After I had around 200 sweet mini peppers done and there was still a lot of basket to fill I decided to see how far up they would fill the same boxes I used last week for the cherries. I was so happy to find I had plenty to fill that box. Since the bottom of that particular box is solid I didn't have to make nearly as many of the jalapenos, I filled in the bottom with plain clay of the same color and baked it off. Then made just enough peppers to fill in the top layer.

Like a lot of produce peppers have a slight shine to them, they are not a flat, matte color. In this video I show you my preferred clear finish for fruits and vegetables, Future Floor finish. I have had the bottle that I use for a long time (probably 10-15 years) and I have hardly used any. I did look online and the SC Johnson company still makes it, they changed to name to Pledge with Future finish so it is still available. This is one of the simplest of finishes to use, just put the items you want to coat in a small container, add a tiny bit of the finish and stir. Pour the clay items out onto a foil lined tray or plate to dry, stirring them so they don't stick together. The finish is so natural looking when it dries not too shiny but not dull either.

The clays I used in this video are the following

All are Fimo brand:

Transparent White

Sunflower

Tangerine

Red

Leaf Green

Tropical Green

If you want to make other varsities of peppers use the same idea to come up with what you need for your project.

Now the photos

The peppers, just a close up shot of the peppers I made this week. 

 

All of the produce on the table together