Saturday, April 5, 2014

Mini Croissants and a Mini Mold

I've been playing with mold making lately and loving every second of it. Here's one of the first of many tutorials on making your own home made molds.

Don't they look delicious? I love buttery croissants all warm and flaky. Now I can make as many mini pastries as I want in no time at all. 

Things you'll need to create these mini croissants and their mold:
Eye pins

Tools needed to make these:
Toothpick
soft round paintbrush #2 - 4
Craft knife
Parchment paper


The first thing to do is to sculpt your shape. I made a flat sheet of clay about 1/8th inch thick and then cut a triangle out of it that was close to one inch by 3/4 inch. Then I rolled up the triangle and smoothed out the seams with the tip of a toothpick. I turned the ends in a bit to make a slight horseshoe shape. I tried to keep in mind how a real croissant was rolled while I was making my shape. When I was completely happy with the shape I baked it in a preheated 230 degree oven on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes and then let the piece cool before the next step.


Next I mixed equal parts of the easy mold until there was no more marbling and placing my shape face up on the work surface, I covered the clay shape with the mold making blob. I made sure not to just push the mold making medium down but also in to the piece from all sides. I turned the piece over and checked to make sure I was leaving an opening to remove the piece. After the easy mold has cured  (About 25 minutes) you can use your craft blade to trim away any of the mold that is covering the bottom of your piece.


Here are a few of the different pieces I made. There is a tea cup shape, my croissant and the bottom of a cupcake. When you remove the original from the mold, you'll see that it's quite flexible and you can bend the mold to remove the clay piece easily.


I made little conditioned balls of STAEDTLER fimo soft #70 sahara and pushed them into the mold. I cut away any clay that was extra and then bent the mold to carefully un-mold the pieces. There was no need for any release agents. You can also bake the piece right in the mold to reduce deformation while un-molding. Mine came out pretty clean unbaked so I made a heap of them right away. I used my STAEDTLER Karat soft pastel chalks and a soft brush to add colour to the bready curls. I started with an ecru colour and worked my way to the darker colours.


I must admit that I'm pretty chuffed with these little guys. They really do look toasty and delicious. I added my head pins to the end of each croissant and then I baked them in a preheated 230 degree oven, on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes and allowed them to cool before adorning them with toppings.


For the buttered croissants, I added a small square of STAEDTLER Fimo effect #204 translucent yellow to the top of each pastry and covered the butter pat with a drop of STAEDTLER Fimo liquid Deco gel. I re-baked the pieces for another 20 minutes and they were done!


For a little chocolate drizzle I mixed up some brown chalk dust with a bit of the Fimo liquid and drizzled it over some croissants. I re-baked the pieces for 20 more minutes.


I like these little guys too!
Maybe I'll make some delicious teeny pastry earrings with these.
Can't wait to share more.