Biscuit's House

Fake cake

Sorry I've been late for the MCI drawing...work has been hell this week, I've worked day and night and stressed more maybe than ever before. The winner is...Georgina! Please send me your address.

After the lollipops, last week-end  I tried a mango cream cake...

I tried cutting the mango mousse slices with a cookie cutter but the clay stuck far too much, so I used a blade instead. For next time, I ordered Teflon spray which I hope will help.

I made a big mess with the silicone sealant - my hands were full of it and it took forever to get rid of it. I'm no good at piping - don't know if I'll ever be able to make one of those cute piped borders.

My first attempt at a cork clay base ended up too big, so I finished it off as a cookie.

End result is far from as nice as in the book, not too bad for a beginning I guess but took way too long to make.

Feeling like knitting now - I've unearthed a sweater I had begun a year or 2 ago. Finished the back and am going to start the front. I'm a very slow knitter so it will be probably a month or more until it's finished!    

Thursday was MCI day

And since there isn't anything in this issue I particularly want to make (except perhaps the bag, and I saved the instructions), I'll send my copy to someone drawn randomly from those who will have replied to this post by 8 pm French time next Tuesday.  The winner is Georgina (please send your address)! Thanks to all who entered.

The fashion pages in this issue reminded me of how I loved back-to-school time as a child and teenager. Often my parents took my sister and me to Paris and we got new clothes in autumnal colors and textures (corduroy, tweed...) and got to choose new school goodies such as files, erasers, pens, cases, schoolbags etc. I used to love Japanese school accessories, but at the time I had no idea they were from Japan. I loved the cooling weather, the September atmosphere, the feeling of a fresh start.

    

Fake sweets - frosted lollipops

While on holiday, I bought a book about fake sweets made of polymer clay and different kinds of clay. Actually, I saw first the macarons and ice-cream in the latest issue of Dolly Dolly, and it made me want to see more. So I got the book by the same person who did the article in Dolly Dolly, I think she's by far the most talented of the fake sweet book authors.

Yesterday I tried the lollipops, which seemed to me the easiest things to make in the book. I was right, it wasn't too hard, since the frosting hides small imperfections in the sculpt. Who knows, with practice, in 20 or 30 years, I might be able to try my hand at the book on the cover.

I used the ingredients shown above, Modena clay, acrylic paint, glass beads, Q-tip sticks and glue.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take good photos.

For the packaging I used pretty plastic bags, stickers and paper cutouts  I had bought at Yuzawaya in Kobe - I can't resist this kind of thing.

  

Next time, I'll try something a little more elaborate. I'm not good at sculpting, but perhaps with a cookie cutter I can manage.

Rement overflow

I bought quite a lot of Rement and Megahouse miniatures on holiday, being on a fake sweet binge, but I wasn't very lucky and got a lot of duplicates. I have the ones below for sale.

From Rement :

1 : 1 available
2 : 4 available 3 available
3 : 2 available
4 : 3 available
5 : 2 available 1 available
6 : 1 available

I also have one each of the 3 Megahouse Pierre Hermé sets below for sale. The Pierre Hermé sets are sold.

I'm selling them by lots of 3 sets (at least) of your choice while supplies last.  Each lot of 3 sets is $10 and each additional set is $3.50. As an example shipping by priority air mail to the US for 3 sets is $9.

So who wants some sweets?

Chinese knots

The other day while on holiday, I watched Oshare Koubou on TV (I used to watch this program often when I was living there) and was interested in the Chinese knotting bracelet featured that night. As it happened I was going shopping in Kobe the next day, so I bought the Oshare Koubou magazine, and Asian cord and big beads at Yuzawaya (normally it should have been a lacquer bead but I had forgotten that I wanted to look for one and remembered only at closing time, so I got the Venetian beads that jumped into my eyes right away instead).

I made the bracelet after coming back home, the knotting itself is not difficult, you just have to go slowly and look carefully at the instructions. What I found harder is finishing off the cut ends cleanly. But I'm quite please with the result.

More photos up on Flickr soon.  

While I was away, I got an award from my friend Sachiko. I think that's my first award!

My 5 nominees are :

Crafty Beats

Kleas

Lemonade

Malphi

The Scarlett Knitter

Off to let them know!

Ponyo strap

The winner of the Ponyo strap is Nuria...please e-mail your address!

Even more sweets and my sweetie

I found this mug at Loft and had to buy it. Since most of the hotels and inns we stayed at (we changed every day) had an electric kettle, it came in handy to drink my usual gallons of black tea every evening. It comes in this sweet box.

I found the mug cover at the Plaza shop in the Annex building in Nagoya,  where Tokyu Hands is located and where I used to go once in a while to buy imported snacks and cookies when I was a student at Nagoya University.

After shopping in Nagoya, we had dinner at the Yuri jazz & coffee shop near the TV tower. I used to hang around there often as a student. It hasn't changed one bit, still the same menu, written on cork pages, still those hundreds of vinyl jazz records, the banana juice and banana cake still tasting good. Big nostalgia. 

Last but not least, Puni dressed up as a maiko at Edomura.

More sweets

A cute book cover, found at Kinokuniya. Good for pocket books and pocket editions of manga. I'm currently reading or probably re-reading "Oh my darling" by Ueda Miwa, I have the impression I already know the story and it's very nineties ; and Miso-com by Yonezawa Rika, quite funny. At the airport I bought a novel by Hayashi Mariko, an author I find easy to read.

A folding eco-bag, can be folded into its inner pocket and carried in a handbag. Eco-bags are all the range and this sort (some have photos of ice-creams, strawberries, cookies, and lots of other things) can be found in Tokyu Hands and Loft.

  

Macarons and sweets

 Japan seems to be as obsessed with sweets as I am. I got a strap for my handbag.

My key bunch now sports a macaron keyholder.

I couldn't resist the cupcake and icecream either.

Or the cute waffle strap.

Or the irresistible postcard.

I have an extra macaron strap for sale below - $9 + shipping ($4 to the US) by paypal. Sold

 

Reluctantly back

I came back last night, hubby and Puni are staying in Japan for a couple more weeks.I found the kitchen full of flying ants and the fridge full of mold. I'm starting work again tomorrow and needless to say am feeling blue.

On July 21, we went to see "Gake no ue no Ponyo" in Rifu, near Shiogama where we had been watching the port festival. We loved it and now are singing "ponyo ponyo ponyo sakana no ko" all the time.

My phone now sports a Ponyo strap. Not very grown-up but I don't think I'll ever grow up.

The memo holder is for my office. The "hangyoujin" (half human, half fish) strap below right is a present for one of the readers of this blog - just leave a comment by next Saturday and I'll draw a name on Sunday. Accounted for!