Tiny Folcloric Breakfast

I made this tiny folcloric breakfast set for my daughter's upcoming birthday which is in fact this week. I had to work with what I had at home because my whole country went on quarantine and although I didn't have all the ideal supplies, I had enough to create something I'm happy with. The design is inspired by the Czech folcloric motifs called Blue Onion, I just made mine much simpler. I enjoyed this whole process enormously and I will continue making more miniature doll things. I also enjoyed very much writing this instructable so make some tea or coffee, sit back and enjoy all those 60+ photos I made for you.

And for refference - the cakes are the size of 1 cent coin (Euro).

I was thinking a lot about how to divide the photos and text and I decided to dedicate one step to each piece of the breakfast set and describe the sculpting and molding and painting in the same step.

I baked all the pieces at 130 °C for 30 minutes immediatelly after I made them, then waited for them to cool down before painting. Each polymer clay can be a little different so read the instructions on yours first.

I also spray-varnished all pieces after the paint dried.

- polymer clay

- paint - I used tempera paint although acrylic paint might be better

- spray varnish - not necessary if you use acrylic paint

- small round brushes

- cutting tools - knife, x-acto knife

- a few more tools - I used some tools for cake decorating, sculpting and also chopsticks

- mat to work on, like silicone mat

Let's start with the easiest piece - the egg.

1. I rolled a small oval shape and then rolled and pinched one end to be thinner and with a little pointy-yet-round top.

2. I made 6 eggs, one of them will go to the egg cup permanently.

3. I painted half of the eggs white and part with a brownish shell. The paint I mixed was brown-white-yellow.

1. I took a small piece of clay and formed a ball. Then I pressed in the middle of it with a cake decorating tool with a ball at one end.

2. Using my fingers I slowly formed a small bowl and then strethed it's sides to make them higher until the bowl turned into a cup.

3. I rolled out a rope, formed it in a half-heart shape and attached it to the cup to be the handle. The clay is pretty sticky so I just pressed a little.

4. I made 2 of them and after I baked them I first painted them white and then blue around the edge and also the bottom of the cups.

The egg cups were a little tricky but I figured them out in the end.

1. First, I rolled out a thicker rope, then I left one end thick and rolled the rest a little thinner. I pressed the thicker end into the mat to make the botton flat.

2. I cut the rope about 2 cm tall and pressed the other end with my finger, then turned it around and pressed also this end into the mat..

3. I laid the future egg cup horizontally and rolled it a little holding a chopstick in the middle of it to make it visibly thinner than the cup part and the bottom.

4. I used a cake decorating tool to press a hole for the egg in one of the ends.

5. I turned the cup upside down and pressed it lightly into the matt to flatten the edge of the cup.

6. I made two cups and put an egg into one of them.

7. I painted the cups white and then made a blue stripe around the edge and in the center of the cup.

1. I put a bigger piece of clay on the thicker end of a chopstick and rolled it out a little longer on the chopstick.

2. I took it off and pressed it a little in the mat on both sides. This way The body of the teapot has a flat bottom as well as the edge.

3. I rolled out a rope thicker on one end and thinner on the other. I curved it a little to resemble a spout and pinched a hole with a needle in the thinner end of the spout. I attached the thicker end to the teapot. Again, I just pressed it a little and it stuck to the body of the teapot and after baking it it was firmly attached.

4. I formed the handle the same way I did for the cups - a heart shaped rope.

5. For the lid I just made a ball and flattened it with my finger and for the know I made a small ball and pressed it in the center of the lid.

6. As you can see, I painted everything white and then the blue parts / the edge, the handle, the top of the spout and the know on the lid.

1. For the honey jar I started the same like with the teapot. I rolled out some clay, just this time on the thin end of a chopstick and then I pressed the jar into the mat bottom down and bottom up.

2. For the lid - once again - I flattened a ball with my finger and the know is a small ball.

3. I continued with the honey dipper. I rolled out a thin rope and twisted one end. Then I rolled a tiny piece of clay into an oval shape and flattened it's ends by pressing them into the mat.

4. The honey dipper has a kind of incisions on the part that you dip in the honey.I created those with an x-acto knife.

5. I painted the jar white with blue edge and knob.

6. To paint the dipper I mixed brown with a little white and a tiny bit of orange and yellow and I painted it without adding any water to the paint. This way the brush strokes stay visible and create a wooden texture. Then I added some more white to the color, dipped a dry brush in it and just tapped the dipper lightly. This gave the dipper just a little hint of lighter color, so that the final color wouldn't be so uniform and resembled real wood more.

1. I rolled out a short rope leaving one end thick, that would be the spoon part.

2. I rolled what was to be the handle a little tinner.

3. I used a tool with a very small ball on one end to shape the spoon and because I didn't want the spoon perfectly round but rather oval-shaped and a little pointy, I shaped it further just with my fingers.

4. I painted both spoons with the same colors like the honey dipper in the previous step.

1. For the two plates I made flat round shapes that I rolled a little on the edges to help shape them.

2. I rolled out a rope and made it into a circle that I placed in the centre of the bottom of each plate.I pressed each circle into the plate a little.

3. I lifte the edges of the plate a little upward.

4. Then I used one of my sculpting tools - which is actually this pointy dentist tool - to create a furrow around the edge of each place and I pressed my finger in the center of the plate to create an indent.

5. As for the painting, after the white base I painted the edge of the plates blue and then I painted little ornaments resembling the Blue Onion design.

1. I didn't form the bowl from a flat shape, I basically pressed my finger into a clay ball.

2. I stretched the edges more and more, turned the bowl upside down and pressed it into the mat to keep the height of the edge same everywhere and repeated those steps until I was happy with it.

3. I created the same furrow around the edge like I did with the plates. And here you can actually see the tool I use.

4. I painted the bowl the same like the plates.

A true folcloric Czech breakfast has to have the traditional cakes called Koláče.

1. I flattened small balls with my thumb and made a furrow around the edge.

2. Then I made a little tear shapes and pressed them on the top of each cake - on some cakes one, on the other cakes two of them. These tears are supposed to be almonds.

4. I painted the pastry part of the cake (the edge and bottom) with a mixture of brown, white and yellow and the topping of the cake or with a mixture of black, dark blue and a little red for the plum marmelade (cakes with one almond) or half dark and half white for plum marmelade and cottage cheese (cakes with two almonds). I painted the almonds with a paint that was mostly white with just a hint of yellow and brown. Just enough for the white not to be white anymore.

The bread is something I am really proud of. We bake bread at home so I know what a good and crispy bread is supposed to look like.

1. I first shaped a piece of clay like a loaf of bread.

2. I used the dentist tool to make light furrows.

3. Then I cut of 4 slices on the top of the bread. Actually, not entirely, just the tops of the slices. I pressed the edges of the slices to make them thinner and then I pressed them a little on the loaf.

4. I made some more furrows, some of them deeper than others.

5. I paintes the whole bread with the paint mixture I used for the cakes (brown-white-yellow). Then I painted the top of the "slices" with darker brown and then I dipped dry brush in white paint and tapped the loaf a little (especially on the top) to create the flour dusting.

That was it, I spray-varnished everything and played with the cute tiny breakfast set a little. I cannot wait to see my daughter when she opens her present and I hope you enjoyed reading this instructable as much as I enjoyed writing it and especially making the breakfast set!