Happy New Year and welcome to The Happy Panda!
Mari, Ivy, Julie and Libby sit down for dinner.
Mmmm, Polymer clay food! My favorite!
The noodles are made with a clay extruder. It's kind of an expensive tool so be sure to wait for a sale or use your craft store coupon but we get a lot of use out of it so it's worth the price. Plus, it's a lot of fun to play with!
The chop sticks are craft sticks from the craft store and I found the plates at a flea market. (I made Julie's dress.)
We found the serving dishes at a kitchen outlet store. The small dipping bowls are wooden bowls we found at the craft store in the miniatures aisle. We painted them white and filled them with "dipping sauces". The wasabi is polymer clay, the soy sauce is acrylic water and the duck sauce and hot mustard are paint.
Yum! Dumpling!
The rice is made with the clay extruder. We used "translucent" clay (without any added color).
The egg rolls are made with gold clay and wrapped around little rolls of aluminum foil.
The pot stickers are made by mixing translucent clay with a little bit of beige clay so you can see the filling which is little bits of brightly colored clay. After it was baked, we painted the edges golden brown.
Everything is coated with clear gloss varnish, to make it look greasy and yummy.
Some of my odds and ends. (I was born a collector!)
The wooden carvings (on the top and middle shelves of the book case and on top of the cabinet) were brought back from Asia many years ago by a family friend who was a merchant marine. They are hand carved and quite fabulous.
My dad made the book case and I found the cabinet at a department store. the fans hanging on the wall are printed on paper and cut out.
Top of the book case: Hand carving
First shelf: A bowl found at Good Will. The tea pot is a trinket box.
Upper middle shelf: Cheap glass panda, bamboo fan from the craft store and another wooden carving.
Lower middle shelf: Mini Buddha from an import store and cheap glass elephants.
Bottom shelf: The doll sized soup bowls are actually people sized tea cups from an import store and the "copper pots" were found at Good Will.
Another wooden carving and a lucky cat from an import store.
And fortune cookies!
Mari and Libby crack open their fortune cookies.
Polymer clay cookies and red envelopes for everyone!
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!