Friday, August 10, 2012

The Very Cherry Berry Tutorial

I know this topic won’t be of interest to everyone but I will do my best to make it lively, especially for those of you who might rather take a nap. Oh, go ahead. Why not? Naps are good for you. The rest of us will just plug on along with how I made the tiny cherries that I used in the Fairy Berry Birthday Feast. If you click on the photos below, you will get larger ones.

First thing you do is root around in your supplies to see if you have the right color of polymer clay to make cherries. If you do, absolutely terrific! If not, then you must go to the store. Try to buy the right color, but then again . . . maybe it’s time to mix it up. You could make wild colors of cherries. In fact, I might just do that next time! Wouldn’t that be fun?

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Get the clay nice and conditioned – soften it, mix it up, knead it. Notice I said knead and not kneed. We don’t need any kickboxing of the clay at this point.

Then take a teeny tiny little bit and roll it around in your palm until you get a ball. Don’t get distracted by your short lifeline or the fact that you may be coming into great riches in the near future. That stuff hardly ever comes true.

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Now you have a perfectly round, perfectly symmetrical, perfectly perfect (stick with me here) little red clay ball. You also will have a red palm and a red finger. Just think, one down, 199 to go.

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After a very few minutes, unless you have to let the dog out or get the mail or pour yourself some tea, you will have a nice gathering of little red balls. Some people call this a quorum but that gives them entirely too much power way too soon. We can’t have a revolt on our hands.

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Now here’s where you have to use your best judgment. I’d let you use mine but sometimes I can’t even find it so you are on your own. I knew the size of the wire I was going to use for the stems so I knew the size of the hole I had to create for them to go in.

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So, go find your cloth covered wire, figure out how big of a hole you need (not knead – we’re done with that) and poke a little hole for the wire to go in. Don’t put the wire in yet.

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As you can see I used a pearl headed pin to make my holes which was very convenient because I was able to use the pearl end to make a slight indentation in the area where I just made the hole. You might have to remake the hole if it fills in but that won’t take you but a second – unless you have to pour yourself another cup of tea or the dog needs to go out again or – no, you’ve already gotten the mail in.

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Once you have done this to every single cherry berry wannabe, you place them on a non-stick surface – some use parchment, some use foil – and you bake them for just a very few minutes. See the package instructions for clues.

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When they are finished baking you will have a nice little dish full of berry wannabes. They are so excited about getting out of that hot oven they will party and celebrate and try to run wild all over your kitchen. You must be firm with them and show them who’s the boss.

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Now it’s time to give these babies some stems. I used cloth covered wire. It worked for me; maybe it will work for you. I used just a tiny drop of super duper instant krazy glue to put the stems in the holes you made earlier. I cut a little bit longer wire (easier to work with) and put a cherry berry on either end too. This way you have a handle to hold them when you do the next step. You can cut the wires to size later.

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The next step is to glaze them. Yep, I put a shiny coat of glaze on and it turned out to be just the right touch. They magically turned from wannabes to cherry berries.

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This is the way I dried them. My husband came in and said they looked like antenna on bugs so if you have kids and want to do something fun with them, tell them you are going to make some weird looking bugs.

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Here’s a photo of the cherries all shiny and ready for their stems to be cut to size.

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Here’s a photo of a bowl full of cherries – life is like that, you know. Or life could be like Mary Engelbreit said and be a chair full of bowlies.

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And this is a single cherry among a plate full of other berries.

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That’s it. That’s how I made my cherries for the berry feast. Now it’s time for you to go and have a great weekend! Thanks for reading and kneading!

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19 comments:

  1. Ginger, you are so much fun and so was this post - I love your blog, and it makes me want to meet you and get to know you better (you're probably very relieved that we live so far from each other!). Thanks for the excellent tutorial - I feel much cherrier with this additional knowledge under my belt!
    Hugs,
    Kayzy

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    1. Hi Kayzy,

      Oh, are you sure you want to meet the craziness in person?? Ha ha. Aren't you very sweet! I'm sure I could use a dose of down under-ness to help me when I feel upside down! Thank you so very much!

      ~ginger

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  2. thank you.
    how did you do the little raspberries and blackberries? you must have had something to give them that texture.

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    1. Hi Ladytats,

      I didn't mention the raspberries and blackberries because I did them the easy way - with moulds! Ye, the easy way to texture and end results!

      Thanks for reading!
      ~ginger

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  3. Thank you for showing us. This is fascinating! What patience and eyesight you must have! x

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    1. Hi Lynda,

      It helps to wear my seeing close-up glasses that's for sure! I'm beginning to wonder if patience might not be another name for crazy! :D

      Thanks so much!
      ~ginger

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  4. Thanks so much for the tutorial.
    You are a great berry maker.
    Hugs

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    1. Hi Kays Kids,

      You are very kind and you are very welcome!

      ~ginger

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  5. Hmm, you lost the boys when you said you couldn't kneed anything, and the girls at the red paws. Oh well! They said you can make them cherries, or they'll go and raid the fridge for some real ones...

    Hugs

    LT

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    1. Hi Katy,

      Well, messing about with clay isn't for every furry paw anyway. They (and you) might be better off in this case. I think it might be a good idea for you to go and check your fridge. Who knows what else they might have stuck their paws into?

      Thanks for stopping by - to all The Clan!
      ~ginger

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  6. Hi Ginger,

    A wonderful tutorial, thank you so much for sharing.

    Happy Saturday. Hugs to Sebastian too. ♥

    Hugs

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    Replies
    1. Hi The Bear's Blog,

      You are welcome! Sebastian sends hugs back to you and all your furry ones.

      All the best,
      ~ginger

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  7. Very cool, thanks for showing this! (Fun post too, made me smile! :) ) The glaze really brings them to life. The idea of being firm with them when they come out of the oven is very reasonable I think... I can just imagine 200 (or even just 20) little cherries running around the kitchen counters and floor...

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    1. Hi Kay Joy,

      You are welcome. I am glad something that comes from this brain is in some way helpful to someone. Yes, a firm hand is definitely the way to go. I failed with the blueberries and now they have control over my entire kitchen. I have to ask permission to come in to get ice out of the refrigerator!

      Thanks!
      ~ginger

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  8. You are so funny! You made me laugh so hard DH was a little concerned until I told him oh I am reading Sebastian's mom's blog. Then he understood perfectly. :-)

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    1. Hi Sharon,

      Ha ha! Happy to make you laugh. My DH nods in agreement. It's as if everyone knows - I mean, KNOWS, that I'm crazy!

      Thanks for reading, friend!
      :D
      ~ginger

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  9. You make me laugh.

    Thank you for sharing your creative process with us. It sure looks like alot of fun. A long process, of course getting up to pour the tea, letting the dog out (numerous times) and getting the mail made it longer, but still ....

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    1. Hi Bonnie,

      Yeah, it's kind of crazy here when I'm on my own. No end to distractions!

      Thanks for reading!
      ~ginger

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