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(Okay, I feel compelled to apologize again for the photography. These were taken last year, before I was shooting things with a blog in mind.)
Speaking of gingerbread houses, this was a sort of renovation project that Mom and I worked on throughout 2006.
About a decade ago, I made her a group of what I thought would be small “permanent” gingerbread houses. I built the houses out of paper mache, and then used royal icing and candy to decorate them. Well, they held up great in Arizona, where there is no moisture in the air. But when Mom moved to Oregon, they quickly became a nasty, melting, spongy mess. (Candy + Humidity = Disaster.)
So, after much lobbying, I convinced Mom that we could chip off all the icky melting candy and icing, and then re-decorate with polymer clay candy, which would never melt. (I had to lobby because she was sentimentally attached to the sticky mess.)
The demolition phase lasted through several craft days together, as we chipped and scraped and broke all the old icing and candy off the houses. And this photo doesn’t begin to convey the mess. Just imagine crumbs and chunks of hard white icing everywhere, and wads of partially-liquified candy. Blecch.
Once we had all the crap off the paper mache, though, it was time for the fun part! We busted out the poly clay and made replicas of all our favorite gingerbread-house candy: ribbon candy, and picture candy, and swirled candy sticks.
We also made some passable poly clay cookies to decorate the roofs of our houses. I remember we did extensive tests to find a substance we could press into the tops of the cookies to resemble sugar. And I believe that table salt was the winner – but don’t quote me on that.
After varnishing all those candies, we mixed up a fresh patch of royal icing and went to work. Few things in the world more fun than trimming a gingerbread house.
And voila! When they were done, they looked good as new. And still do, a year later.
Wow, I love it — a recycled gingerbread house. Now how cool is that. Had to submit to StumbleUpon. Hope lots of others get to see this now.
Wow, I love it — a recycled gingerbread house. Now how cool is that. Had to submit to StumbleUpon. Hope lots of others get to see this now.
I so bow to you and your Mom’s craftiness!
I love the clay candy..it looks so real on the blog. :)
I so bow to you and your Mom’s craftiness!
I love the clay candy..it looks so real on the blog. :)
The picture of your tray of fake candy bring back so many memories for me. My Grandma always had ribbon candy and the chewy picture candies (like the Christmas trees in your picture). Back in those days, Christmas was still magical. :)
The picture of your tray of fake candy bring back so many memories for me. My Grandma always had ribbon candy and the chewy picture candies (like the Christmas trees in your picture). Back in those days, Christmas was still magical. :)
That’s super fun! Best use of polymer clay I’ve seen in awhile!
That’s super fun! Best use of polymer clay I’ve seen in awhile!
That is wicked awesome polymer clay candy! (Yes I am channelling my inner Boston-ite this morning.) So when are you going to run a class on making paper mache houses with polymer trim? Sign me up!
That is wicked awesome polymer clay candy! (Yes I am channelling my inner Boston-ite this morning.) So when are you going to run a class on making paper mache houses with polymer trim? Sign me up!
They look great
They look great
I just -love- the polymer clay idea! It is so colorful! :)
I just -love- the polymer clay idea! It is so colorful! :)
Wow- that is incredible! That may be next year’s main Christmas gift. The candy looks amazing. What are you piping with? A real pastry bag with tips? They look so beautiful.
Wow- that is incredible! That may be next year’s main Christmas gift. The candy looks amazing. What are you piping with? A real pastry bag with tips? They look so beautiful.
[...] 25, 2007 I got all inspired by the craftypod gingerbread house post and took on the task this year. I have to say the construction phase was [...]