Miniature Tomatoes

Watch this week's video here

Last week in the process of doing the prep work to make the strawberries I had dug out all the red clay I could find, which wasn't much. Over the weekend I happened to hit a couple of stores that had Fimo on sale so I stocked up on some of the reds that were missing from my stash. I also picked up a package of Premo Pomegranate since it was such a pretty red too. So all of these packages of red clay were sitting on my work table waiting to find their way to my clay storage tubs. Also over the weekend I had picked up some tomatoes to make a salad from. So with all that red clay staring at in my in one room and the tomatoes in my kitchen I decided it was only natural to make some mini tomatoes this week.

I did a bake test again since I had all new packages of clay. I find that red especially tends to shift color when it is baked so I wanted to see how the colors would look when baked. I am finding myself doing bake tests a lot more recently, they only take me a few seconds and I can be sure of what my clay is going to look like. I hate those times I have worked really hard on a project only to find the clay didn't do what I thought it would and I have wasted a bunch of clay and my time. So I grabbed an index card, a pencil, my packages of clay and my little tile with TLS. I wrote the names of the three clays I wanted to test on the card, kneaded a tiny bit of each color dipped this sample into the TLS and adhered it to the card just under its name. I then baked it for 5 minutes while got my work area set up to make my project. When the card came out I found that Fimo Indian Red was a good match for the main color of my tomato. I wanted to add some variety to my basket of tomatoes so I also mixed some of the same red with some Sunflower Yellow. I noticed I still had a bit of the Fimo Carmine out from last week's strawberries so I mixed that with a bit of the same yellow for a bit more variety.

Now I was ready to make tomatoes, or was I? Not quite, I next measured the tomato I had with me and made mental note of the shape. Now I was ready to make tomatoes.

The shape of the tomato is basically that of a ball. Some varieties are more round some have a definite flat shape and some are really longer and thinner. I chose to make mine fairly round.

The making of the tomatoes is pretty easy to grasp from the video I hope. After some things we have made these almost make themselves. So have fun with them.

The tops made of Fimo Leaf Green are probably the hardest part of the project and with a little practice even they are really easy. I think the green leafy parts are what make the project too so don't give up, you can do them.

When the tomatoes had cooled from their final baking I again used Future Floor Finish to coat them. I love the finish this stuff gives to my mini fruits and vegetables. It is a really subtle shine, it could almost be described as a glow not a shine. If you can't get this product or don't want to buy a big bottle just for a few minis go ahead and use a satin finish that is compatible with the baked Fimo.

This week's photos:

Mrs Doll is bringing the basket to join the rest of our produce for sale.

This picture of the basket of tomatoes is my favorite shot of all the ones I have taken so far of the produce projects. 

 

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