Designed and demonstrated by Maureen Carlson.
Materials:
FIMO Classic or FIMO Soft polymer clay - see colors under individual "candies"
Mix Quick kneading medium
pasta machine, roller or brayer
Nublade, tissue blade or craft blade
needle tool
cutting and measuring template for polymer clays
FIMO Classic Blending Chart
fishing line or beading thread
large clay tile or paper-lined baking sheet
oven
oven thermometer and timer
Notes: The techniques for creating replicas of holiday candies from polymer clay are the same whether you wish to create ornaments sized to fit an eight-foot tree in your living room or an eight-inch tree in your doll house. What differs is the amount of clay that you use and the dimensions of the pieces needed for each step. The following directions give general guidelines, leaving it up to you as to how big you wish to make the finished designs.
Steps:
Preparation
1. Choose colors of FIMO Classic or FIMO Soft polymer clay (refer to individual designs for suggested colors). Mixing a bit of translucent clay in with the colors will create a more realistic candy look.
2. Mix and condition polymer clay, adding Mix Quick kneading medium as needed for softness.
3. Follow individual design steps to create patterned layers of clay. Reduce size of clay cane by rolling and stretching. Reduce size of layered loaf by pressing and stretching.
4. Use very sharp blade to cut clay designs into desired sizes for garland. Tip - Very small designs can be baked in long canes, then sliced to desired size while still hot. A small drill can then be used for drilling the hole for stringing. If the clay crumbles when sliced, it was either not baked long enough or hot enough.
5. Use needle tool to poke hole through each unbaked clay piece for stringing.
6. Preheat oven to 265 degrees Fahrenheit or 130 degrees Celsius. Position clay pieces on paper-lined baking sheet or clay tile.
7. Bake in center of oven for 30 minutes.
8. String when cool.
Candies
Citrus Slices
Clay colors:
- Lemon Slices - FIMO SOFT lemon , transparent yellow, translucent, white
- Orange Slices - FIMO SOFT mandarin , transparent orange, translucent, white
- Lime Slices - FIMO SOFT lime green, translucent, white
Steps:
1. Wrap a two-inch rope of transparent colored clay with a blanket of translucent/white mixed clay (equal parts of white and translucent). Note: to make transparent lime, mix one part lime green with three parts translucent.
2. Roll and stretch wrapped rope to 16 inches long.
3. Use fingers to pinch rope into a long triangular-shaped rope.
4. Trim Ends. Cut into eight equal pieces (figure A).
5. Place pieces next to each other with all points meeting in the center to form a chunky rope (figure B).
6. Wrap rope with a blanket of white clay.
7. Wrap with a second blanket of colored clay (figure C).
8. Squeeze layered rope gently to compress and force out air.
9. Stretch and roll to desired length and diameter (figure D).
10. Trim ends. Slice with sharp blade.
Star Mints
Clay colors:
- red
- white
- transparent
Steps:
1. Mix equal parts of red and transparent and white and transparent.
2. For the center of the candy, roll a two-inch-long white-mix rope.
3. For the outside design, roll both a white-mix rope and a red-mix rope that are a quarter as thick as the center rope.
4. Cut two-inch segments of each color.
5. Stack these smaller pieces around the larger one, alternating white and red (figure E).
6. Squeeze rope firmly but gently to compress and force out air.
7. Stretch and roll to desired length and diameter.
8. Trim ends. Slice with a sharp blade.
Hard Candies
Clay colors of your choice
Steps:
1. Begin with a miniature cookie cutter from your kitchen collection. Simple designs are best.
2. Choose a background color. Form a solid chunk of clay that is as tall as the cookie cutter and at least a third wider.
3. Press cutter into center of solid clay chunk. Remove cutter. Note: You may need to use a sharp blade to slice through edge of clay into center in order to easily remove the cutter (figure F).
4. For cutter design, form a second chunk of clay that is as tall as the cutter and just slightly wider. Cut out design.
5. Insert cutter design into center of background chunk. Squeeze gently to compress and remove air bubbles (figure G).
6. Wrap chunk with one or more blankets of colored clay. An alternate design would be to stack alternating colored ropes around the outside as you did for the Star Mint (figures H and I).
7. Stretch and roll cane to desired length and diameter.
8. Trim ends. Slice with a sharp blade.
Ribbon Candies
Clay colors - your choice
Steps:
1. Roll clay into sheets of desired thickness. Cut five to eight rectangles--all the same size.
2. Stack rectangles, alternating light and dark clay. Don't put green and red next to each other as they create brown when mixed (figure J).
3. Press and roll layers until desired thickness for the width of your candies.
4. Use sharp blade to cut thin slices.
5. Gently bend slice (don't fold or pinch) into three or more loops to form ribbon candy (figure K).
Use the poly-clay candy in garlands, jewelry, package ties and centerpieces.
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