Cantelope: For whole cantelope, just mix a bit of ochre fimo into white fimo or Sculpey, .add more ochre as needed. Roll on a piece of Velcro to texture the skin, then run a round toothpick vertically down the cantelope for those natural grooves. Bake and when cool, you may want to "wash" your cantelope with watered down green acrylic paint.

Mary (Eccher)

Teacakes in DHM teacart how-to: This is for anyone who was confused by the teacake instructions in the teacart article in the April Dollhouse miniatures. I apologize for the delay in answering but I've been away. And, since I wrote the article, I felt I'd better make things clear.

To give the polymer clays a good slicing consistency, they need to be baked twice. The editors and I were trying to make the article fit and probably took out too many words. Bake your items on the tile and let them cool in the oven. Then remove the tile and the items but do not remove the items from the tile. In other words, your teacakes are fine on the tile. You just have to take them out of the oven while you reheat it because the oven has temperature changes while it reheats and they would burn the clay. After the oven is at the right temperature, put your tile of cakes back in and bake again, 10 minutes is enough, and let them cool in the oven again. Then slice.

Denise Pritchett

Food Sites: Your best bet would be to go to Mary Eccher's site 1st, as she has been in the business of showing people how to do mini food for many years: http://www.pannikins.com/

If you click on the catalog, and then on 'Mary's menus', you will find information and directions for some foods.

Tom of Earth & Tree Miniatures carries some quite good booklets on making food; Fimo Sweets, Petite Eats...and Meyer's Homemade Meals: http://www.dollhouse- miniatures.com

And, this great site about polymer clays...more info here than you can shake a Fimo stick at: http://www.glassattic.com

And, finally, (although there is certainly more info out there!)

Angie Scarr's site...where I learned how to make peelable oranges: http://www.compclub.demon.co.uk/asmini.htm

Kaye in L.A.

Ceramics: If you want to repeat something many times you can use a plaster mold and low fire liquid ceramic slip. Some molds are 1, 2 or many parts. Open molds you just pour in the clay and it begins to set up. When it is as thick as you want you pour the remaining slip out (and reuse it). For 2 or more part molds you put them together and rubber band them tightly. Then you pour in the slip and do the same as the open mold. When the clay in the mold gets to a leather hardness it has shrunk enough to come out easily. This is the best point in which to clean up the mold lines, thin the lip, and do anything else you want to with it. When dry, you fire it to cone 04. There are many other things to know about (i.e. porcelains, etc.) but this was the fast answer.

Jacqui, in Hilo, Hawaii

Releasing Clay from Molds: To release polymer clay from your bunny mold, you may be told to use talc, baby oil, pam, etc. But the simplest solution is water. Spray a fine mist of water into the mold, press in the polymer clay, and gently remove the bunny from the mold.

Mary Eccher

Clay: Friendly Plastic is not at all like Fimo or other polymer clays. It is rigid plastic that can be softened in hot water. It can then be cut into shapes or pressed into a mold. I've most often seen it used to make jewelry. It can be re-softened/shaped over and over - not a good thing because it will do so in the sun or a car in the summer, etc.

Janet in Baltimore

fairy / angel: I found a polymer clay fairy, with very clear instructions, on the following website: http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/pcc/suefairy. html I'm sure you can adapt her to be an angel, and she is just the right size for a baby angel.

Betsie, South Africa

Bread: Another product you might try for your bread is Model Magic by Crayola. It can be found at Michael's or many craft stores, also Longs, Kmart, etc., in their toy dept. It is also an air dry modeling compound. Let it dry overnight and it slices just like bread. Brush on a colored chalk, or dry brush on acrylic paint before slicing. It stays squishy just like bread and even has tiny air bubbles and texture like bread. We love it!Holds it shape great.

Diane in SFBay Area

Mini kiwi slices: http://lincsminiworld.bizland.com/

This site has a lot of graphics and takes time to load. You have a lot of searching to do to. They have a lot of Stix (cane) you slice, and make very tiny things. Very cute !I'm not sure if there is kiwi fruit or not. Very interesting though.

Debbie

Barbara B.

Porcelain Blanks for China Painting: We have been selling white ware to mini china painters all over the world for 17 years now. We will snail mail a 6 page leaflet of drawings done the same size as the "real" item, free on request. The white glaze we use will go all the way up to bisque temperature if needed; the ware is THIN and there is no minimum order. For more info check us out at http://avonminiatures.com

Donna and Keith Brown

Molds: I use Plasticene to make molds - but then, it depends on whether you want to keep the mold for future use. I like it because I can squish it up and use it again. I make my doll face molds from Fimo - what else? I wait until the shop sells off the unpopular colors at sale time and buy some of them up.

Lynne Connolly

Molds: In the Micro-Mark catalog they carry two forms of silicone rubber for making molds. They are both two part products, add A to B and then it is ready to use. One comes in a liquid and the other is a putty. It is rather expensive so I don't know if this is feasible for you. I have debated using it to make the fancy moldings my daughter needs for the ceilings and walls in her colonial dollhouse, but it is so costly it might be cheaper to just buy the moldings! Would a good acrylic house caulking work? The good stuff is strong and flexible, at least that is what my husband says. We want to make the moldings of plaster and thought we might try using caulk, let it set until hard and then peel it off and pour in plaster. How about using Milliput? It is a British two part epoxy putty that is suppose to dry as hard as porcelain and can be rolled very thin.

Marsha in Wisconsin

Molds: Recently, someone ask about what could be used to make molds - have you tried Magic Mold made by the Crayola company? We use it to make molds for cake decorations - It gets firm enough to press what ever you are trying to make a mold of into it with out firing and then easily releases.

Oleta

Liquid Sculpey: Liquid Sculpey is a medium that has the consistency of toothpaste.  It comes only in white but can be tinted with acrylic paints. It is baked in the oven just like regular Sculpey. Because it is "liquid", not a solid compound, it's use is limited to either using it IN miniatures, such as cake pans, on cookie sheets, etc. or mixed with a "solid" or filler, such as I mentioned with the egg salad recipe.

Mary Eccher

Liquid Sculpey: here is the Sculpey home page, which includes some ways to use Liquid Sculpey. Check out the 'tile' frame. http://www.sculpey.com/fset_projects.htm

Kaye in L.A.

Toothpick Tool: Did you know that you can make your own little tools of various sizes and shapes to use while working with polymer clays? Just dip the tip of a toothpick into tacky glue, take a small amount of uncolored clay (preferably Mix Quick or transparent Fimo) and form the bit of clay onto the tip of the toothpick to the desired sizes and shapes. Bake in oven as usual.

Mary Eccher

Baking Polymer Clays. You probably will all think I'm crazy..or crazier than you already think I am, but I bake my clays on index cards! I've done it for years and never had any sticking or browning! Just make sure you preheat the oven before you put anything in it!

Alice Zinn

Sculpey Turning Brown: You are cooking too long and too hot. I use 225-250 degrees and cook only for a few minutes, the larger the piece the longer you cook. You can always pull it out cool it down fast under cold water and see if it's "cooked" if you can't indent it with a finger nail it's done.
As for adding paint. That's how we used to make it in the "old days" a dab of paint and knead it well then bake as usual. Sculpey didn't used to come in colors - that happened in the late 70s early 80s. Never had a chemical reaction with it. The only chemical reaction seems to be when it comes in contact with plastic for a while - like lying in a little plastic drawer.

Gail

Sculpey: I haven't worked with Sculpey extensively, but I have a couple tips. The first thing I would say is that I think the plain untinted Sculpey is likely to change color somewhat when cooked, but white-colored Sculpey should not (but keep your hands very clean while working with it!). The directions on the package are intended, I think, for people doing "chunkier" modeling where it will take longer for the heat to penetrate the piece completely and bake it all the way through. You will need to experiment to get the right timing, and you may want to lower the temperature in order to bake the pieces more slowly and thoroughly without burning the surfaces. I did find when I tried to make Sculpey candies one time that some white paint mixed in helped maintain the whiteness. I, too, had the stuff get stiff when I mixed in paint, but I baked it anyway. Sculpey does retain some resiliency once baked - it won't be hard like ceramic - but it shouldn't be actually "rubbery". I think that's a sign it wasn't completely baked even though the outside scorched. There are plenty of mini craft books about making Sculpey and other polyclay items - you might want to look at one, even about items different than your own, just for some temperature and timing guidelines for tiny items.
Another thing is, don't bake your pieces on metal or aluminum foil, I think this might get hot too fast and add to the scorching problem. Bake them on a glass or, better yet, ceramic surface that will distribute the heat better.
I knew some people years ago who made Sculpey figurines for a living, buying the colorless type in bulk and coloring it with good ole fashioned poster paint. That didn't seem to cause the stiffening problem. They did then bake the items as usual. The colors came out very solid and bright. I don't think there's a problem with gas releases or anything when you mix paint into the product, I've never heard of that, but don't quote me! But you should always fire pieces, even in a home oven, with proper ventilation, and don't use food dishes for your projects and don't eat the Sculpey!

Grace