More Hallowe'en Goodies!

I can't believe that I'm making Hallowe'en pieces already...it's only September, but as I'm heading off to the desert to see my youngest very soon, I thought I'd better get on with it! That & the fact that I've been asked for Hallowe'en pieces has meant that I've had to....talk about wishing your life away!

I always seem to make life difficult for myself too & instead of putting these little tarts on the usual cakestand, I had to make one myself as I had this picture of a cakestand featuring a witch.  Not an easy task for me, trying to make sure that the "plate" was level on the stand was a nightmare...but I won in the end! Now I really fancy a kiln to make my own plates (instead of using clay) & a lathe for wood turning........but I need to win the lottery first!

Mad Hatter's hat cake!

More fun in the workshop! I was asked some time ago to come up with a Mad Hatter's hat cake that was a little different to the normal....I dragged my feet on this one as I have never been, & don't think ever will be, a fan of Alice in Wonderland .....shock horror! Other than Jefferson Airplane's great classic track, "White Rabbit", there was never an appeal in the books to me either as a child or an adult!
All that aside, once I actually forced myself to get going, I quite enjoyed making this...although it's a little larger than my normal work at just under 2" to the top of the teapot (which incidentally is pouring out hot chocolate & not tea!)...it needed to be this size so that I could incorporate the porcelain teapot without it looking totally out of scale & silly!
Anyway....here it is, I hope you like it! (thank goodness my customer loves it....phew!)

Hallowe'en is coming!

Hallowe'en is on its way & although I'm not a fan of "themed" work as I have enough trouble kitting out my dolls house as it is & could never imagine changing the pieces displayed inside to fit a particular time of year! One year I did actually decorate one of them for Christmas, but that was the first & last time!

This little piece I had great fun with though & already have ideas for other floating pieces...just not too much time to make them reality....once I've finished feathering cock pheasants though, look out for "floaters" of all kinds!

Choux pastry overload!

One of many (& varied!) problems I have is that I always, without fail, end up making too much of a particular clay mix & find myself having to make bazillions of one thing! At the minute it's choux pastry! Profiteroles, gateaux St Honore, religieuse, eclairs......anyone got a favourite to make out of choux pastry...I'm running out of ideas!
I did come up with this little concoction of eclairs, choux buns & a profiterole to alleviate the boredom & then decided I'd make an orange gateau St Honore......I have absolutely NO idea whether it's ever been made in an orange flavour, but now there's a mini version with sugared citrus rind as a decoration! I think I'd rather have the chocolate version myself!

Withdrawal setting in!

Not only am I just about on my knees after having family here for a few weeks...all that cooking & playing with the grandchildren has really taken its toll :-))......but the severe shortage of mini making time is leading to real withdrawal symptoms...I've had to turn to the wine to keep them at bay LOL.
They leave tomorrow & I just know I'm going to miss them all terribly, the place will be soooo quiet...not to mention tidy....all I will be left with is the good old hubby, the dog & the hens & even the dog is too old to play now! BUT, once the bed linens are changed & washed & the house mucked out I should be able to get back into the workshop & catch up a little with the very long list of work I need to get done.  Every cloud has a silver lining!
Amazingly, I have managed to make a few pieces in between food shopping, cooking, washing, ironing & vacuuming, not to mention reading ever longer bedtime stories until I need matchsticks to keep my eyes open every night...I think I might sleep for a full day before I get back to "work"!
So here you go 2 of the very few pieces I've actually made in 3 whole weeks......not an impressive work rate!

 My version of the classic French dessert Gateau St Honore....chocolate, of course!

& a strawberry torte gateau!

Maybe summer will come back........

Even though summer seems to have deserted the good old cold & dreary NE of England...beautiful the Cathedral & castle in Durham might be but the weather never is......I couldn't resist putting together my dream al fresco eating food...a jug of red wine, some coarse pate, olives, tomatoes& bread...now all I need is some SUN......please!

Blueberry jam set & a broken jar!

I've been seeing tiny blueberries in my sleep recently! A jam prep board, 5 filled jars & a broken jar of Heidelbeermarmelade for a friend! I hope you like it! :-))

As I'm totally hopeless at judging the amount of resin I need, I had enough left over to make this broken jar too....this is the English version....blueberry jam & not Heidelbeermarmelade!