Now that I’m finished with the How to Sculpt Miniature Breakfast Foods book, I need to start restocking the food jewelry pieces my shop, and, inspired by some of the new techniques I developed for the book, I decided to spend some time updating a few of my food jewelry best sellers.

It can be easy to fall into a groove (or perhaps a rut) when making the same pieces again and again, but I decided to train a fresh pair of eyes on them this time.

I thought it might be fun to see a little comparison of how my pieces have changed over the years, and hopefully this will give you permission to cut yourself some slack in your own projects, because we all have to start out somewhere! ๐Ÿ™‚

My red velvet cake crumbs are more realistic and moist-looking, the color is more true to life, and I let crumbs get caught in the frosting, rather than striving for an unnatural perfection.

THEN

redVelvetEar4

NOW (You can get these earrings here.)

DSC07693My old burgers were…well, not very good. The colors and textures aren’t very realistic and everything is overly glossy and “wet.”

THEN

burgerEarrings

NOW (You can get these earrings in dangly and post style.)

cheeseBurgzNew

DSC07689

Grilled cheese sandwiches now have a more mottled coloring and realistic-looking bread.

THEN

grilledCheese3NOW (You can get these earrings here.)

grilled-cheese-earringsPerhaps one of the most dramatic changes occurred in my tiny pizza. The cheese, sauce and crust are all more detailed and realistic, and the slices are much messier.

THEN

pepPizzaEarNOW (You can get these earrings here.)

pizza-earrings

Pizza–maybe this should be included in a future tutorial. What do you think?


8 responses to “Miniature Food Jewelry: Looking Back at Four Years of Sculpting”

  1. candiware Avatar

    Really nice to see the change over time. I would love to see a tutorial on pizza!

  2. Mo Tipton Avatar

    Thanks, Candice! ๐Ÿ™‚ And thanks for the feedback–I’ll add pizza to my future tutorials list…

  3. Eliza Kasztner Avatar
    Eliza Kasztner

    Oh my god ! these are fantastic .. you’re talented ๐Ÿ˜€ You made an improvement with the pizza but the others were still awasome back in the good old days

  4. Mo Tipton Avatar

    Thank you, Eliza! I have a feeling I’ll always carry the urge to change things and try to make them better, but at least it’s a fun pursuit! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  5. Trina Avatar
    Trina

    I love the before AND the after! It’s amazing how you got the cake texture from flat and dull to moist and crumbly? What technique did you incorporate to get the new and Improved texture? It looks great!

  6. Mo Tipton Avatar

    Thanks, Trina! I used to be afraid of adding any varnish to the crumbs for fear of making them look wet, but a little dab actually gives them a nice, moist appearance. ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. satsumaart Avatar

    I always love these comparison posts! Isn’t it reassuring to see your progress? That’s how I often feel when I look at old work. ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. Mo Tipton Avatar

    Definitely! It’s easy to take for granted the progress I’ve made, but these posts are a nice reality check. ๐Ÿ˜‰