inediblog

Sale Preview- charms!

2011-12-23T17:38:00.007-05:00

Sale Charms Preview!

If you'd like any of these goodies, send an email ( inediblejewelry @ gmail (dot) com )- first come, first served. Happy sale shopping!

If you need them shipped, it will be $2.70 shipping flat rate in the US, $3 to Canada, or $3.50 elsewhere.

We will remove these as they sell. Finished goodies will go up in the etsy shop late afternoon on Christmas Day.

**Edited: Thanks all! We'll likely run another sale again in a few months! :)

Tiny Pie Class!

2011-11-12T16:37:00.004-05:00

I'll be teaching a class on making mini pumpkin pies up at Etsy Labs on Monday, November 14. If you'd like to follow along at home, gather up the following supplies so you'll be all set to make your own mini pumpkin pie.

Conveniently, I noticed that Michaels has Premo on sale starting tomorrow- it's like they knew!

You can find the class webcast online, here, on Monday at 3.30 Eastern Time, and it will also be archived for a while.

If you're chomping at the bit to get started, a printed version of the recipe is online too, as part of Etsy's How Tuesday series, here. One change: Premo has reformulated their orange, and it's now really bright, almost neon. To make it look more like the dark orange of real pumpkin pie, mix in a small amount of raw sienna and yellow Premo to tone it down a bit.

Ingredients:
orange Premo
raw sienna Premo
cadmium yellow Premo
white Premo
ecru Premo

translucent liquid sculpey or liquid clay

allspice (the real spice; very fine dark brown sand will also work)

raw sienna chalk artists pastel (you want one that looks orangey, like baked bread) & a scrap piece of paper

24 gauge headpins, 2" long, sterling silver or silver-plated brass (these are good ones for silver plated)

Tools:
work surface: I prefer a smooth white floor tile, but parchment paper or a clean piece of glass will work too

small ball point tool (like this one) or straight pin with a rounded tip

small paintbrush for the liquid clay
paintbrush or eyeshadow applicator for the artists pastel

needlenose pliers
nail clippers or wire cutters

Summer classes!

2011-06-22T09:33:00.031-05:00

I'll be teaching a bunch of classes this summer all over Virginia. I've put together a list of classes from now til late August below. Contact the hosting venue directly to register for classes, since they are in charge of sign up and waiting lists. (Hosting venue contact info is available by clicking on the links below.)

I am also always happy to schedule a class or birthday party for private groups. If you're interested, check out some of the class descriptions of previous classes I've run and feel free to email ( inediblejewelry {at} gmail {dot} com ) and we can discuss details.

I hope to see you in a class soon!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Date & Class Time Hosting Venue Age range

June 21 Charlottesville

Jewelry-making 2-4p Gordon Avenue Library teens

June 28 Charlottesville

Ice cream cones 2-4p Gordon Avenue Library teens

June 30 Crozet

Lollipops 2-4p Crozet Library teens

July 6 Charlottesville

Watermelons 2-4p Northside Library teens

July 13 Charlottesville

Watermelons 2-4p Northside Library teens

August 8 Virginia Beach

Sushi 12-2p MEO Central Library teens

August 8 Virginia Beach

Cakes 3.30-5.30p Princess Anne Library teens

August 9 Midlothian

Cakes 2-4p Clover Hill Library teens

August 9 Midlothian

Ice cream 6-8p Midlothian Library teens

August 17 Staunton

Popsicles 6.30-8.30p Staunton Library teens

Cupcake class- supplies list

2011-05-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

I'm so excited to be teaching a cupcake charm class May 9 at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn! The in-person class might be full, but no worries- Etsy will set up a live stream demo of the class so that anyone can follow along at home. I'll post the link when it's up. Yay!

I've put together a supplies list so that you're all set and ready to go for the class next Monday! You can probably find the clay and the tools at your local craft store, but in case you can't, I've included links to my favorite polymer clay supplier, polymerclayexpress.com

For the clay, a little goes a long way. If you're just getting started, you really only need a couple of packages for the basic colors. My example cupcake only takes 3: burnt umber (chocolate color), white, and cadmium red.

For the tools: you can substitute a clean regular paintbrush (small is better), a straight pin (for sewing), and a straight razor blade for the fancier versions below. Most likely, you already have these around the house!

* Clay

http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/premo.html

Premo ecru: 1 2oz block

Premo burnt umber: 1 2oz block

Premo white: 1 2oz block

Premo translucent: 1 2 oz block

Premo cadmium red: 1 2-oz block

Premo orange: 1 2oz block

Premo cadmium yellow: 1 2oz block

Premo green: 1 2oz block

Premo turquoise: 1 2oz block

Premo purple: 1 2oz block

Premo black: 1 2oz block

Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS): 2oz bottle

Clay softener: 1 bottle (right under the TLS picture on order page)

* Clay Tools

http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/applicators.html

Microbrushes: Ultrabrush MHU-10 regular (black ones): for applying liquid clay

PRO Kemper needle tool (texture)

http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/tools2.html

* Jewelry supplies

Headpins: I like the 2” silver-plated brass ones for classes (480 should be enough to make a bunch of pieces)

http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?PN=H208074FD

Needlenose pliers for jewelry making

Nail clippers (just the regular kind you can find at any drugstore; they're great for wire cutting.)

* Clean-up

90% rubbing alcohol

Paper towels or very clean white cloth rag (NOT flannel or anything fuzzy)

* Work surface

8" x 8" plain white ceramic floor tile (should be easy to find at any hardware store)

parchment paper (for baking; not crucial, but helpful)

In rain or snow or sleet or hail, just not wind

2011-04-13T13:27:00.000-05:00

Holding down the tent on a gusty day. Photo by Amy McNabb.

We firmly believe in being there for our customers. We are part of the Charlottesville City Market nearly every Saturday morning for 9 months of the year. We're there in rain. We're happy to go when it's hot- we just bring a big bucket of ice as a swamp cooler. We're happy to go when it's cold or snowing even- two pairs of socks, a handmade scarf, hand warmers and we're out there with a smile.

The one weather condition we can't stand? Wind.

Little 8 mile an hour winds: not so bad. One of the first things we learned about outdoor displays was: make them much heavier than you ever imagined they'd need to be. We use cast iron wherever possible. Lots of pins keep our tablecloths in place. We've got 40 pounds of weight on the feet of our tent. But you know what? Those random gusts are killers. A 15 mile an hour wind can make our tent balloon up, and make our earring display (10lbs) blow a few inches across the table. 20 miles an hour? We're taking our tent down as fast as possible, and holding our displays.

We've seen unweighted and unstaked 10' x 10' tents go flying at shows before. Invariably, they land on either the ceramics person or the most expensive car in the vicinity. (Hence our 40 pounds of weight on the tent legs, and our dual hold on the tent!)

We eventually lost the tent above to a particularly windy day. It didn't go flying (thankfully!), but one of the cross bars that held the canopy in place just couldn't take it any more, and snapped.

So, if you come to the market on a really windy day, rest assured that we'll be there. We'll still even be happy to make a custom pair of earrings while you wait. So long as you offer to hold the tent.

Show schedule 2011

2011-03-30T21:30:00.004-05:00

Most Saturdays from April 2- December 24, we'll be at the Charlottesville City Market. The City Market takes place right next to the Downtown Mall between South Street and Water Street. Our spot is along 1st street at the top of the hill next to the pink building.

We are doing several special shows this year as well!

April 17

Spring Bada Bing in Richmond, VA

May 14 + 15

Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia PA

June 11 + 12

Renegade Brooklyn in Brooklyn NY

June 17 + 18

Campout East in Crozet, VA

For the latest show updates, we frequently post on both our Facebook page, and our twitter.

We hope to see you at a show!

Class options!

2011-03-30T16:24:00.013-05:00

I love to teach classes and do birthday parties! Here's a list of classes I have offered, and would be happy to teach again. I usually teach smaller groups (12 students; ages 12 and up) , so people get lots of personal attention, but I can be flexible. If you're interested in having me come and teach a class or birthday party, feel free to email ( inediblejewelry (at) gmail (dot) com ). If you'd like to learn another kind of food that's not listed below, contact me and I'll see what I can do!

Class Options 2011

Introduction to Jewelry-making
The intro to Jewelry making class will cover: wire-wrapping, earring-making, and using crimp beads to make a beaded bracelet. All tools and materials provided. This class is just basic jewelry-making techniques with regular beads; we won't cover any tiny foods. Length of class: 2 hours.

Let them wear cake

In this class, we'll learn basic techniques in working with polymer clay to make miniature whole cakes, which can be sliced and made into earrings, a pair of best friends necklaces, or left whole as a fun pendant! Skills: basic color mixing, sculpture, texture, and how to make miniatures into charms or beads. We'll make at least one pair of earrings. Length of class: 2 hours.

Donuts

In this class we'll learn how to make donuts or bagels! We'll cover basic techniques in working with polymer clay to learn how to make frosted and filled donuts (or bagels with cream cheese!). We'll turn these miniatures into fun jewelry- you can decide whether you'd prefer to make earrings or a bracelet or necklace. Length of class: 2 hours.

Burgers

Whether your favorite is veggie, turkey, beef, bison, or black bean, you'll learn how to make tiny burgers! In this class, we'll use basic techniques in sculpting with polymer clay to learn how to make a classic burger, complete with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a toasty sesame seed bun. We'll turn these miniatures into a pair of fun earrings, or a necklace. Length of class: 2 hours.

Lollipops

In this class we'll make colorful fun lollipops! We'll use basic techniques in sculpting with polymer clay to learn to make sweet little lollipop charms. We'll turn the miniatures into a pair of tasty earrings or a necklace. Length of class: 2 hours.

Sushi

In this class, we'll make teeny pieces of salmon sushi! We'll make several pieces of sushi: enough to make a pair of earrings and to add some to a little plate complete with wasabi and chopstick. We'll then turn the miniature sushi platter into a fun necklace. Length of class: 2 hours

Summer Watermelons

Learn to make tiny watermelons that won’t get juice all over your chin! In this class, we’ll use polymer clay to make a whole mini watermelon that we’ll turn into fun earrings and a necklace. We’ll learn the techniques of marbling, color layering, using liquid clay, and we’ll work with translucent clay to make the fruit really realistic. Length of class: 2 hours.

Strawberries and Bananas

Your mom will be proud- healthy food! In this class, we'll learn how to use polymer clay to make tiny bananas (peeled!), and strawberries. We'll make these tiny fruits into two pairs of earrings or a couple of fun necklaces. Length of class: 2 hours.

I Like Pie

The only thing better than real fresh baked pie is pie you can wear! Learn to make a tiny pie charm with a lattice crust on top. We’ll learn how texturing techniques to make the edge of the pie nice and crimped, how to make the crust look perfectly baked, and even how to make the pie tin look like shiny metal! Length of class: 2 hours.

We All Scream for Ice Cream

Learn to make tiny ice cream cones for summer! In this class, we’ll use polymer clay to make a bunch of tiny ice cream cones that won’t melt. We’ll use texturing techniques to get that waffle pattern on the cone, learn marbling and color mixing to make custom flavors. Length of class: 2 hours.

Conversation Hearts

2010-01-26T14:28:00.003-05:00

It's that time of the year again. True, Valentine's Day may have been an undeniable presence since 12.01am on New Year's when all the stores immediately erupted in a froth of pink, red, and white lace. But now that I've actually got a bowl of real conversation hearts on the table and I've been steadily snacking my way through "Be Mine"s, "Call Me"s, and "True Love"s, the holiday feels more real.

So of course Susan and I are thinking about food and love. In the last year, we've heard some great food-related stories about all the stages of love. People possibly meeting over food: a woman wanted to post a picture of donut cuff links on her match.com profile, reasoning that any man who'd appreciate them would appreciate her. People falling in love over food: a couple shared a pink sprinkled donut on their first date. People having trouble admitting their feelings: a man was terribly shy and when he wanted to tell his future wife that he loved her for the first time, he said "I love... waffles" instead.

But food isn't just connected with romantic love. Think about all those little acts of love that happen in families or between friends: the note in the lunchbox, the favorite snack after school, grabbing a milkshake a fries to make a bad day better, best friends sharing a pint of ice cream and secrets.

That's why our favorite conversation heart is XO- it's the perfect combination of a food and the sweet hugs and kisses sentiment that food happily given expresses. And it's why this Valentine's Day, we hope that everyone has a special someone (best friend, mom, dad, sister, husband, wife, neighbor) with whom they'll share something delicious and memorable!

Holiday Craftacular!

2009-12-09T11:34:00.006-05:00

We'll be at the Holiday Craftacular show in Charlottesville this Friday (December 11) and Saturday (December 12). Lots of awesome locally handmade goodies, and even hot cider and munchies to make your holiday shopping a breeze.

For more info about the participating artists, check out the Craftacular facebook page, as well as the Cville Craft Attack blog.

Hope to see you there!

Book Signing!

2009-11-06T13:26:00.003-05:00

We've each gotten a nifty pen. We thought up a cute inscription. Oh yes, we're ready for our book signing tomorrow!

The best part? It's being held in Albemarle Baking Company, one of the best bakeries we've ever been to (and owned by enormously nice people to boot!)

So we'd love it if you swung by to say hi tomorrow, November 7 between 3 and 4.30 in the afternoon. Come even just to inhale the heavenly scent of fresh scones and perfectly crispy baguettes.

And if you'd like your book signed too, awesome! We'll have copies for sale there, or you can bring one you've already bought.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Book release!

2009-10-19T14:40:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe, but our tiny food cookbook will be officially released tomorrow! We are super-excited and can't wait to hear what you all think of the book. We'll have copies for sale at the Charlottesville City Market this weekend, if you're local.

We also plan to have several book-signings in the upcoming weeks. We're currently pen-shopping so that we'll have a fun and cool pen with which to sign copies of the book. Pen suggestions are welcome!

Two signings that we have confirmed (copies of the book will also be available for purchase at both events):

November 4, 2009; 7pm: Staunton Public Library (Staunton, VA)

November 7, 2009; 3-5 pm: Albemarle Baking Company (Charlottesville, VA)
(Come early and buy a scone to nibble on; they're the best!)

We'd love to see you there, and we'd love to see any inedible goodies you've made!

Tiny Food Burgers

2009-10-14T14:09:00.001-05:00

Curious to know how to make your own tiny burgers? We made a video showing you all the steps!

Before you watch, it's helpful to have the following ingredients already assembled on your work surface (all clays are Premo unless otherwise noted, and a ball is a smooth sphere of clay):

Bun:
1/16" ball white
1/4" ball ecru
3/8" ball ecru

Burger, Cheese, & Tomato:
1/4" ball burnt sienna
3/16" ball cadmium yellow
3/16" ball cadmium red

Lettuce:
3/16" ball translucent
1/16" ball light green (* we usually use Sculpey III Granny Smith)
1/8" green

Tools & Other materials:
raw sienna artists' (soft) pastel
double-ball stylus (small tip)
paintbrush
headpin (2", fine gauge)

Have fun customizing your own burger! Maybe you prefer your lettuce on top of your patty, or your patty to be square. Or get really creative and add mushrooms or onions on top!

Tiny Burger Recipe Video

One week til book release!

2009-10-12T17:21:00.006-05:00

We can't believe that the book will be out in a week! We're planning some fun book signing events in Virginia and in the DC area, and we'll announce those soon if you'd like to come and say hi in person.

Jessica just saw Julie & Julia (fantastic!). In addition to the amazing food, beautifully subtle exploration of relationships, the movie depiction of the process of putting together a cookbook was fascinating. We didn't have nearly the headaches that Julia Child and her collaborators did in getting their masterpiece published. We were extra-lucky to have had such a supportive editor in Julie Mazur, and everyone at Random House has been a dream to work with.

The process of testing each recipe in our book was much the same (although with understandably inedible results- excepting the real food recipes of course!). And that big yellow envelope with the advance copy that arrives rather unexpectedly in the mail? Yep- that's still the same envelope publishers use today, and yes, we both danced around our houses when that envelope arrived!

If you're excited about seeing how our little creations are made, check out the book at your local bookstore or library. Or you can order a copy online! Borders just let us know that they're running an online-only 30% off sale on select craft books- including ours- til November 2.

Peach crisp

2009-09-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

A friend of ours from Colombia had never tried crisp or cobbler before, and when Jessica tried to explain what it was, she described it as "very much like pie, but with the crust just on top." He loved the end result, but could not remember the proper name for the dish, and so has forever referred to it as "upside down pie."

With only a couple of weeks left in peach season, we thought we'd share our recipe for peach crisp! We started with the excellent recipe for apple crisp written on One Frugal Foodie, and modified it for peaches. We are also big fans of real butter, but imagine that you can easily make this recipe vegan again if you prefer a margarine butter substitute.

This recipe is easy to tweak to suit your individual taste- add a bunch of blueberries, or some shredded coconut on top for great texture and flavor. If you have some, scrape the seeds from about half of a vanilla bean onto the peaches before you add the topping. Or, top each warm serving with some good vanilla bean ice cream when you serve it.

Finally, be sure to use real maple syrup on top. It gives an incredible crunchy texture that is impossible to create otherwise and is well worth it!

Enjoy!

Peach Crisp

4 medium-large freestone peaches

1/2 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsp maple syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Slice the peaches into thin wedges, leaving the skin on. (The skins will confer a lot of extra flavor to the dish, and they will soften while baking.) Add them to an 8" x 8" baking dish. Toss with vanilla seeds, if using, or add a dash of vanilla extract.

3. Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cardamom in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks crumbly, and the pieces of butter are about the size of peppercorns. Add the topping in an even layer on top of the peaches.

4. Drizzle the topping with the maple syrup.

5. Bake the crisp for about 30 minutes, until the fruit is soft and sizzling, and the topping is a golden brown.

6. Enjoy!

Yay Cookbook!

2009-05-13T14:21:00.011-05:00

Learn to make your own tiny food! We wrote a cookbook with 20 miniature food jewelry recipes (and a few real food recipes too!), and it is officially being released October 20, 2009! It's fun, it's colorful, and it answers the perennial question: "How on earth do you make these?"

Not only that, but the photos inside are absolutely delectable (the photographer shot the cinnamon rolls on real cinnamon sticks, with a real cinnamon roll in the background- mmmmm), and the book is totally colorful and fun.

If you'd like to order the book, you can find it at your favorite booksellers!

amazon.com

barnes and noble.com

borders.com

If you'd like a signed copy from us, we have one available in our etsy shop!

Signed copy

Peach oatmeal

2009-04-21T15:38:00.006-05:00

I've been inspired by a breakfast suggestion from the incomparable Diet Girl. I've always known oatmeal is healthy, but it's so often just insipid and bland. Her idea of adding pears and almond butter to oatmeal was a huge revelation for me. I adore fresh pears, but the canned ones just aren't quite the same. So I subbed in peaches and tweaked a few details to come up with my own version of fruity oatmeal. Seriously, this stuff is much better than you remember, and has a heck of a lot fewer calories than you'd think. One key to great flavor: use the liquid from the canned peaches (instead of water) to make the oatmeal. It imparts a great extra-peachy flavor.

Peach Oatmeal

yield: 1 serving

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 can of sliced peaches in lite syrup (ie: in pear juice)
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp crunchy almond butter

* Add the oats, milk, sliced peaches, and (this is crucial!) the pear juice from the canned peaches to a microwave-proof bowl.

* Microwave on high for 2 minutes (enough time to scratch your cat and get the coffee started!)

* Cut the almond butter into the oatmeal. It's easiest to mix in the almond butter if you have it on a spoon, then use that spoon to chop up the sliced peaches.

You can also sub pears in, if you prefer those. And ground flax seeds make a nice nutty addition if you're out of almond butter. I'd love to hear some other variations if you have ideas!

Better than pina coladas, or walks in the rain

2009-04-20T18:59:00.005-05:00

At the market this weekend, two twentysomething women walked into our booth. Clearly friends, they were having fun joking around with us over our work. And then they came to the cuff links.

"Donuts!" One of them laughed as she picked up our pink donut cuff links.

"Can you imagine the guy who would wear these?"

"I know!"

"You should take a photo of them and post it as your match.com profile photo. Any guy who'd wear these cuff links is a guy you'd want to date."

Spring Bada Bing!

2009-04-17T14:09:00.003-05:00

One of our favorite shows of the year is coming up this weekend! Spring Bada Bing is put together by the Richmond Craft Mafia, and has a collection of about 60 nifty vendors this year! We're especially excited about Needle Noodles (hilarious crocheted creepy cute things), weehah (awesomely sweet cards), and beesknees studio (lovely paintings.) And most intrigued by a shop called Everything Tiny- these teeny dinosaurs promise to be great!

So, if you're in Central Virginia, fancy a road-trip to Richmond on a what promises to be a lovely April day (yay!), and would like to see some incredibly cool crafts, stop by! The event space is great, parking is easy, and there will be more eye candy than you can handle.

Hope to see you there Sunday!

A nice surprise

2009-04-15T14:35:00.003-05:00

We spend a goodly amount of time at the post office. The Charlottesville post office is a generally nice place- really helpful, efficient, and generally nice postal people. We have a smile-hi relationship that I always more deeply appreciate whenever I have to go to a different post office (say, the everything is behind bulletproof glass one near the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia).

I was dreading going to the post office this afternoon to drop off orders, given the usual tax day chaos. So imagine my pleasant surprise when the open area in the front of the building had some happy tents set up (complete with one of those weird waving wind people), and Papa John's was handing out slices of free cheese pizza. The parking lot wasn't crazy, the line inside was short, and I walked away with a tasty hot slice of pizza.

I'm pretty sure I've never been so happily surprised on April 15.

Post script: In looking for an image to link to for the weird waving wind people, I discovered an entire world of people referring to them as "Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube" men. Bar none, THE best photo of one is a bento box version on flickr. LOVE it.

Show schedule 2009

2009-04-13T11:57:00.004-05:00

Come and see our whole collection in person, design your custom goodies, or just drop by to say "hi." We love to meet you.

The photo of the two of us in our booth was taken by the lovely Lis Kidder, a glass artist who makes gorgeous dichronic glass jewelry.

Here are our upcoming shows for the 2009 season.

Charlottesville City Market
(Charlottesville, Virginia)
most Saturdays
April 4- December 19, 2009
7am - noon
information & directions

Spring Bada-Bing
(Richmond, Virginia)
April 19, 2009
11am - 4pm

Renegade Brooklyn
(Brooklyn, NY)
June 6 & 7, 2009
11am - 7pm

Ballston Arts & Crafts Market
(Arlington, VA)
July 11 & October 10, 2009
10am -4pm

Crafty Bastards
(Washington, DC)
October 3, 2009
10am-5pm

Taking over Brooklyn one piece of tiny food at a time

2009-04-08T10:59:00.003-05:00

We are ecstatic: we just found out we were accepted to Renegade Craft Show in Brooklyn! We consider Renegade to essentially be the Ivy League of indie (ie: self-representing artists with a DIY bent) craft fairs. The great (and difficult, for us) aspect of juried shows is that the organizers try very hard to ensure a good diversity of kinds of products. Jewelry-making is a very easy craft to pick up, and there are a lot of amazing jewelry designers out there. The net result is that jewelry generally ends up being the most insanely competitive category in any juried show.

I spent all day Monday (the day the notifications went out) reliving my college application process: hitting refresh every 5 minutes on the email, just in case that might speed things up. Right around 9pm, the email finally arrived. I held my breath as I opened it, then did a fair amount of jumping and yelling when I realized (two sentences in) that we had been accepted!

SQUEEEE!!

So, if you're in Brooklyn this coming June 6 & 7, stop by McCarren Park and check out the show! We can't wait to see which other artists made it in, and to meet a whole new crowd of people up in NYC!

Inedimobile

2009-04-03T15:06:00.002-05:00

The market season begins again tomorrow morning (yay!), and that means that we've been taking care of all sorts of little details for the beginning of the season. New menu, new table signs, change, take out boxes, even some actual inventory! The first market is always a little chaotic behind the scenes, trying to remember everything (bottle of water, some almonds, pliers, craft show apron). Subsequent weeks are a breeze, since it's back to being routine again, and everything is in its proper place.

So, packing up the inedimobile this afternoon, I made a most unwelcome discovery. The inedimobile is a minivan (yes, cool people drive minivans) perfectly arranged with all of our show gear. I headed out to put the first load in, hit the unlock button on my key chain. No reassuring thunk of opening locks. Hmm. Try again. Nada. Dangit, I thought, I swore I wouldn't let this happen a second year in a row!

Yes, I had neglected to drive the minivan since the holidays (cool people evidently only drive minivans when going to shows, ahem), and the battery was thoroughly dead. Not mostly dead. Utterly so.

I did what every crafter does in this situation: googled how to jump a car battery. I can never remember the order to attach the cables. I ran across the best named site for this sort of thing ever: The Art of Manliness.

So the inedimobile is now officially back in full working order, and ready to flit from show to show from now til December!

Guacamole

2009-03-25T17:24:00.009-05:00

By the end of March, summer feels a million miles away. So, nothing's better than an enormous bowl of guacamole and some crisp white wine in the toasty comfort of a friend's living room. I made up a batch of this guacamole this week, and it was devoured in about 30 minutes flat. The teeny amounts that were not carried away on tortilla chips made an excellent sauce over burgers and grilled salmon. I've adapted the recipe from Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday.

This recipe is basically all chopping, so a really good knife will make your life much easier. The one I used was so sharp the veggies basically quaked and diced themselves the moment they saw the blade.

Guacamole

3 ripe avocados, chopped into chunks
juice of 1 lime
2 small tomatoes, diced
1/2 white or Vidalia onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, very finely diced
kosher sea salt, to taste

Start by chopping the avocado into a medium-sized serving bowl, then squeeze the lime juice over the avocado to keep it from turning brown (not that it will likely get much of a chance!) Add in the rest of the ingredients and toss/ stir to evenly distribute everything. If you use your hands, you get the added benefit of extra sampling.

Beware the jalapeno- be very sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap after cutting them so you aren't blinded by the oil if you rub your eyes. Not only is it excruciatingly painful, it will be really difficult to get your fair share of the guacamole if you're trying to find it through your tears.

I can't say whether this recipe keeps well- it's never lasted long enough to test. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2009-03-17T13:50:00.008-05:00

My mom was in town today for lunch. We decided we needed some cupcakes afterwards (having made the exhausting walk from L'Etoile aaallll the way to the downtown mall- what 5 blocks?)

We headed over to Capellino's Crazy Cakes, and picked out two cupcakes. Mom got the coconut chocolate, and I deferred to the Irish spirit of the day and got the chocolate with Bailey's Irish cream frosting. Mmmm. Not only were they delicious, but they came with edible glitter sprinkled on top. Oh yeah.

Dangerously easy scones

2009-03-09T09:48:00.008-05:00

Yesterday at Crafternoon (tm), we all started waxing rhapsodic about scones. Everyone kept going on about how they loved them, but they took forever to make. Hang on. The scones I learned to make from my wonderful British friend Sam take me all of half an hour, start to finish. And they're delicious. Hence: dangerously easy.

If you have a food processor, it speeds up the process of chopping the butter into the flour, but two knives work nearly as well if you don't.

Dangerously Easy Scones

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp butter (softened)
3/4 cup currants
1/2 cup milk

* Preheat the oven to 425F.

* Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter. If you're using a food processor, chop the butter in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. If you're doing it by hand, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles cornmeal.

* Mix in the currants. Then, add the milk.

* Knead the mixture until it comes together. Roll out the dough until it is about 3/4" thick. Cut out 2" diameter circles. (You can use a floured glass or cookie cutter for this.)

* Bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, or until the top is golden.

* These are absolutely delicious with a dollop of clotted cream and some fresh blackberry jam. And a nice cup of Earl Gray makes the whole meal.

Northern Virginia Magazine mention

2009-03-03T16:39:00.006-05:00

As avid readers of all things foodie (oh how we love Wednesdays for the New York Times and Washington Post food sections!), we were ecstatic when we were interviewed by Warren Rojas of Northern Virginia Magazine. We were doubly ecstatic to see the cute feature they did on our work in the February issue!

Thanks guys for the adorable photography, and the really sweet little feature. And way to go with the meaty burgers- those are some of our favorites too.

It's Foodimentary, my Dear Watson.

2009-03-02T10:24:00.003-05:00

I ran across an quirky and food-geeky blog called Foodimentary the other day. It's basically a food holiday of the day kind of blog (banana cream pie day, anyone?), but it's totally addictive. If you're on twitter, the Foodimentary feed (how appropriate...) is filled with amusing little foodie tidbits throughout the day.

Updated brownies recipe

2009-02-27T00:28:00.004-05:00

A group of friends and I have recently started the tradition of Sunday Crafternoons: lots of tea, yarn (everyone I know is really into fiber; my cat loves it), and of course homemade baked goods. Which for me means brownies, because what could possibly be better than chocolate on a Sunday afternoon?

I updated my brownie recipe with some minor tweaks that I think make it even better. The brown sugar adds a hint of caramel, and the cocoa nibs* are a great crunchy replacement for nuts.

Crafternoon Brownies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour (I love Hodgson Mills naturally white flour)
handful cocoa nibs

* Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly rub a 9" x 9" glass baking dish with butter (the butter wrapper is great for this purpose.)

* Beat together the butter, sugars, cocoa, cinnamon, ancho chili, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Stir in the flour. The batter should be pretty thick.

* Scrape the batter into the baking dish, and shake to evenly distribute the batter. Sprinkle a handful of cocoa nibs over the top of the batter.

* Bake brownies for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

* Enjoy warm with a big glass of milk, or some tea!

* These brownies are even more delicious the next day, if they last that long.

* My first bag of cocoa nibs were a gift from my foodie friend Louise, and came from a little chocolate shop in Pittsburg, PA called mon aimee chocolat.

Big News! We wrote a book!

2009-02-25T12:31:00.003-05:00

We've been very busy this past year: lots of fun shows, new goodies, and we wrote a book on how to make tiny food jewelry! It's set to come out in late October 2009, and we're super excited about it.

The book is set up like a real cookbook, with sections on fruits, breakfast goodies, lunch and dinner savories, sweets and snacks, and holiday treats. There are 20 projects in all, as well as pretty nifty (if we do say so ourselves!) instructions on how to get started working with polymer clay and learning basic jewelry techniques.

We wrote it for all those crafty people out there who love to make things from scratch. And we even included some real recipes, since we know you'll get hungry reading about miniature food.

The book is available for pre-order at amazon.com, since you know you want to be one of the first to have it!

Ballston market this weekend!

2008-05-06T11:21:00.005-05:00

This year, we're branching out of the Charlottesville market, to bring our goodies to customers a tad further north! We'll be at the Ballston Market every second Saturday of the month from May- October. This means we'll be there this weekend, May 10, from 10a -4p. You can even forgo the car, and Metro in: the market is right across the street from the Ballston Metro stop in Wellburn Square. We'll be there, with a bright red tent, red and white checkered tablecloths, and a bunch of yummy new goodies.

And we were thrilled this morning, when reading the Express to see our bacon & eggs cufflinks featured as the item announcing the market! We'll be sure to make lots of extras for this weekend, and if you're not a cuff link wearer, we'll even have a couple of bacon & eggs rings!

Hope to see some of you there!
~Jessica & Susan

Show schedule: Spring 2008

2008-04-08T12:24:00.007-05:00

Come and see our whole collection in person, design your custom goodies, or just drop by to say "hi." We love to meet you.

The photo of the two of us in our booth was taken by the lovely Lis Kidder, a glass artist who makes gorgeous dichronic glass jewelry.

Here are our upcoming shows for Spring 2008.

Charlottesville City Market
(Charlottesville, Virginia)
every Saturday (except May 10)
April 5- May 31, 2008
7am - noon
parking lot at the intersection of Water Street and 1st St.

Spring Bada-Bing
(Richmond, VA)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
11a-4pm
Planet Zero (in the Manchester District)
www.springbadabing.com

Ballston Market
(Ballston, VA)
May 12, 2008
10a-4pm
Wellburn Square (just off the Ballston Metro)
ballstonarts-craftsmarket.blogspot.com

Shows we've recently done:

Fairfax Chocolate Lover's Festival
(Fairfax, VA)
February 2, 2008

Charlottesville City Market
Saturdays April- October
7am- 12pm

Strawberries

2008-03-22T12:55:00.004-05:00

One of the best things about spring is the imminent arrival of fresh strawberries! As kids, we always had at least one major family mission to go out and pick fresh strawberries at a local pick-your-own farm. We always went with the intention of getting a "reasonable" amount of berries, enough for a pie or two, and some fresh ones to last a week perhaps. We always came home sunburned in streaks (I can only imagine trying to get sunblock on three squirmy excited children itching to run out into the fields), and with at least two full pallets full of berries.

We'd wash them (and test a few, just to make sure they were "still good"), then make fresh pies.

So we were really happy to see this delicious strawberry treasury curated by rsharts on etsy. We love her selections, particularly the summer strawberries photograph (I have that same colander!) by PhotoRebecca, the watercolor painting by rsharts, and the amazing glass strawberries by lunacyglass. (Click on the image for a closer look.)

Colorful and Happy Treasury

2008-03-14T21:15:00.006-05:00

We are happy to say we've finally joined a guild! The Polymer Clay Artists Guild on Etsy (PCAGOE) is a very friendly bunch of artists who all work in polymer clay. The diversity of work is incredible and inspiring, and definitely worth checking out. The website for the guild is pcagoe.com, and you can also run a search on etsy with "pcagoe" as your search term, to see members' work.

We were lucky enough to snag a treasury this evening, and we decided to do another "Colorful and Happy" theme, filled with work by PCAGOE members. Click on the large image below for a closer look, and scroll down for a list of links to the individual pieces.

Top row:
"looks like a rose ring" by ZsBCreations
"Pink sparkly handcrafted bracelet" by VickiCockcroft
"Bubble fruit pendant" by BlockPartyPress

Second row:
"sweet little yellow flower" by ZudaGay
"Bad Beast Taxidermy Magnet" by Beastlies
"tiny garden pendant" by saltandpaper

Third row:
"juicy earrings" by mosaica
"Flower necklace" by beadworx
"Green and orange flying super dog" by IttyBittiesForYou

Fourth Row:
"Recycled CD, Beautiful millefiori recycled CD suncatcher" by PolymerClayCreations
"Blossom among the Vines hair barrette" by SativaStudios
"Mini chicken earrings" by joojoo

Happy Pie Day

2008-03-14T15:19:00.004-05:00

Ah, yes, Pie Day! March 14 (3.14) is the perfect excuse to celebrate pie!

Susan and I have decided to hold our first-ever sale at Inedible Jewelry, in honor of Pie Day. Take $1 off any finished piece (earrings, necklace, etc.) with pie on it. You know you've been eyeing it!

Happy shopping, and happy pie eating!

Happy March!

2008-03-02T18:05:00.005-05:00

January, February, and March is our "off season", the time when we are (in theory) a bit less busy than usual since we don't have the market every week. Somehow January and February have evaporated, and we're now in March!

On the up side, this means that summer will be here relatively soon, and with that limeade, sunny mornings, and all of our market friends.

In the meantime, March means all kinds of shades of green. Avocados, limes, olives, key lime pie.... We're even planning some new salad pieces! Or if you need a little liquid nourishment, perhaps a nice frothy pint o' stout, complete with a shamrock is right up your alley.

We wanted to thank silverofthevalley for putting together a delightful "sublime" treasury featuring all kinds of lime deliciousness. It's such a refreshing and fun collection of green pieces. One of each, please!

Enjoy life sip by sip treasury

2008-02-28T14:03:00.008-05:00

I'm a huge fan of breakfast, particularly the coffee course. There's something really nice about being able to wake up to lovely spring sunshine, set the electric kettle on to boil, pop a couple of slices of bread in the toaster, and just enjoy the results. Maybe a little sudoku and a crossword, light blog-reading or maybe flickr-browsing while sipping on the coffee and munching on the toast. Ahhh.

Of course the flip side is that I'm not particularly functional without my cup of coffee. This fact was driven home to me last summer, while Susan and I were setting up for the market early one morning. We had set everything up, and I had sat down in front of my work tray to assemble some pieces while customers were slowly starting to browse the market in the early morning mist. I discovered that I had been staring at the same collection of beads and charms for several minutes, and had no idea what I was meant to do with them.

Looking for some sympathy, I turned to Susan, "I really need a cup of coffee- I've been a complete mental blank for five minutes."

"You know, they say that caffeine addicts' brains aren't fully functional until they've had some coffee."

Long pause.

"Wait, what?"

"Exactly."

Note to our market customers: for good service first thing in the morning, talk to Susan.

In keeping with the breakfast theme, thank you to betsy3 from etsy for curating a lovely treasury, with a great message about taking it slow!

Springtime treasury

2008-02-26T15:48:00.003-05:00

We were browsing the treasury feature on etsy today, and came across this lovely treasury called "to market to market." It's curated by a really nice woman, Amy, of sheknitsamy, that comes to many of the same local markets and shows that we do in central Virginia. Her work is absolutely adorable and beautifully done.

I love that she called this treasury "to market to market", since it not only evokes the Saturday market, but also springtime. The Charlottesville City Market will start up again in a little over a month (where did the off-season go?!), and this treasury is a lovely preview of the kinds of goodies that will be there.

I especially love the robin's egg earrings, and the produce in love card set.

Sardines!

2008-01-29T18:44:00.001-05:00

Our newest cuff links: sardines in tins. These strike me as the perfect cuff links for anyone living in a huge city, or working in cubeland.

Susan is the sculptor behind this pair, and I personally think they're one of the most incredible pieces we've done. The detail on the fish is great- the fins, shimmery scales, even the little eyes and mouths! I am extremely happy with how the photo came out as well. There is no substitute for natural daylight- it just has a warmth that artificial light can't reproduce. This photo is one of the first that I feel has really captured how our pieces look in person.

I don't have any great sardine stories per se, but they always remind me (I wonder why...) of Sardinia. I've never personally been to Sardinia, but one of my favorite films is about the island. The film is a documentary called Tempus de Baristas (Time of the Barmen), and is about a family of goatherds (and hence goat cheese makers) . I strongly recommend it, although there is one scene where a goat is killed that is a bit tough to watch. The movie was made by an anthropologist looking at how a young man deals with the conflict of choosing between the traditional way of life (becoming a goatherd) and the more prosperous way of life (going to hotel management school and training for the tourist trade.)

The film is very observational and meditative, and amazingly novel-like for being a documentary. You'll really, really appreciate goat cheese and how much work goes into producing it.

I have always wondered what became of the family in the film. Did they continue with the goats? Has the son gotten married? What are their lives like now?

New photos and cuteable!

2008-01-25T15:16:00.000-05:00

Online, photos are everything! (Well, that and a decent sense of writing, but that's secondary to the photos.) So, our big goal this year is to kick our photos up several notches. The main idea here is that our photos should really better capture the detail of our work, as well as capture your attention among the teeming hordes of other stuff for sale. Particularly on etsy, where the competition is fierce.

I've built the light box (yes, white foam core board *can* be used for something other than science fair projects!), and begun pushing my camera to really perform. I've been pretty pleased with the new photos thus far- the detail is crisp and clear, and the light nice and warm. A teensy bit of photo editing on a few of them is needed, but otherwise what's coming out of the camera is what you see here.

The next decision will be whether to move from our traditional white background to something with a bit of color. Here's an example, with the black forest cupcake:

As further encouragement to improve our photography, we were thrilled to log on to our Flickr account this afternoon and discover that our pink sprinkle donut stud earrings have been featured on cuteable! If you're not familiar with it, it's a fun blog that features all manner of cute and fun things. Definitely drop in and browse around. Where else will you find a hand-knitted dessert cactus featured?

Two new classes!

2008-01-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to mention that I (Jessica) will be teaching two classes this spring, if you're interested in signing up!

The first will be an all-day seminar at Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC), where we'll cover a variety of techniques. It will be Saturday, February 23, 2008 from 10a - 4p. Visit the PVCC website to sign up! My class is the "Fimo Jewelry Workshop".

The second class will be offered through the Staunton Public Library and will be cake-themed in time for Mother's Day. Call the Staunton Public Library for more information.

We'll start at the beginning, so you need not have any experience with polymer clay before coming to class. Both classes include all the supplies you'll need.

I hope to meet some of you in the coming months!

Reality Crafting

2008-01-03T20:57:00.000-05:00

Every now and again something truly different pops up on the Etsy Forums. Today, while scrolling past the usual help questions (anyone who spends any time there will know which 20 questions appear multiple times per day; no need to repeat them here), a thread title caught my eye. "Opportunity to be on a Crafting TV pilot", it beckoned. Neither Susan nor I is particularly eager to be on TV, but I had to see what the idea behind this one was.

It isn't entirely clear, honestly, but they seem to be looking for someone who can craft on the fly. And has a good personality. (And presumably looks great whilst wielding a glue gun.) Is this a reality-based, 10 hot 20-somethings locked in a house with some strange condition imposed on them, serious drama ensues show? Do they just need a crafty cast member?

Or is this something really interesting, like Iron Chef meets the crafting world? Here I am picturing Martha Stewart battling a promising young up-and-coming crafter. This week's challenge? Alpaca fiber! Can she dye, spin, and knit a pair of cabled socks and matching ear muffs in 45 minutes? And Martha does the unexpected: self-striping yarn! Oh, our young challenger is just no match.

And another week might have special conditions: no squids, owls, swallows, cupcakes, or ridiculously large-eyed animals. The challenge: felt!

I can imagine work stations neatly organized and fully equipped: scrapbook paper, rotary cutters, mod podge, beads, ribbons, balsa wood.

Perhaps the final bit should not be a panel of judges at all. Instead, each contestant will have to photograph, describe, accurately calculate shipping for, and list their items online for sale. Will they get views? Will their challenges sell? And if so, can these intrepid crafters successfully navigate the labyrinth that is the US Postal System?

Now that would be reality TV worth watching.

Frosty blue and lemony yellow treasury

2007-12-07T23:11:00.001-05:00

Just a quick end-of-the week post!

This week saw the first snow of the season in tinyfoodlandia, but we're still clinging to summer a bit. Such is Virginia.

And nothing shows this schizophrenia as well as this lovely treasury curated by smooch (great name!): frosty blue and lemony yellow. She's picked some awesome pieces in a delightful palette and we're thrilled that our lemon studs were included!

Click on the image below for a closer view of everything.

Peppermint green tea treasury

2007-12-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

The holiday shopping season is well upon us now! We've been busily packaging up orders and putting together last-minute custom pieces. So, apologies for the recent neglect of the inediblog.

We hope to remember to bring the camera this weekend to the Holiday Market so that we can snap some photos of our booth and the market itself. Real photos (as opposed to product photos) will really freshen this place up. As for the market, we're desperately hoping that the Carpe Donut people will be there again this weekend. They operate out of a cool painted trailer, and sell organic apple cider donuts and other delectables.

In the meantime, we wanted to say thank you to lunalove for adding our peppermint studs to her wonderful Peppermint Green Tea treasury. We love how this one is very Christmas-y without being cloying. Perhaps it's all the peppermint. Yum! The peppermint tree print by eggmanstudios and the ostrich note cards are great.
(Click on the image for a closer view.)

Sweet treats treasury and new photography!

2007-11-28T11:01:00.001-05:00

The holiday season has arrived. And with it, fun treasuries dedicated to all sorts of delectable holiday goodies.

But before we get to that, we are really excited about our new photography! We have finally started using a light box and our digital camera to its full potential. And we're pretty excited about the results. One of the new photographs is to the left; the peppermint studs in their full glory. For a comparison, the original photo of the peppermint studs can be seen in the treasury below. Not bad originally, but vastly improved nonetheless. Slowly but surely we'll be updating all of our photos.

On to the sweet holiday treasury curated by MelissaVest, a seller who has delightful goodies. She's included all manner of holiday treats. The gingerbread man looks especially enthusiastic, and those cupcakes from FatDaddyBakeshop look incredibly tempting. Somehow the ones at the grocery store just don't call to me to same way anymore, having seen FatDaddy's. Click on the image for a closer view of everything.

A nifty new way to see etsy shops

2007-11-14T18:55:00.000-05:00

A few lovely etsy sellers have started a new blog that is a different way to categorize and showcase etsy shops. Taking those neat little bits of code that pull 4 listings at a time from our etsy shops, the ladies over at etsymini have put together a visually stunning categorization of etsians. You can see at a glance the style of lots of shops in a given category, such as jewelry or bath and body. And if you click on the individual image, it takes you right to that listing so that you can purchase.

And the best part? Any image you see on that site is available for purchase- no more of that "this item sold out on" disappointment!

We're under the jewelry category, and the polymer clay subcategory. Have fun!

Wickedly Chic feature!

2007-11-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

Just in time for Thanksgiving, our pumpkin pie earrings are being featured on Wickedly Chic, a blog devoted to funky goodies from all kinds of artists. You can check out our little profile on their "Daily Ditties" section. Thanks Liz for the mention! :)

chocolate covered cherries treasury

2007-11-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

We've been a bit behind on the blogging lately. And sadly, today will be a very short post as well. We hope to have a great photo of the army of cupcakes we've been busily making tomorrow, though!

On the up side, today's post is about chocolate-covered strawberries! This is perhaps the best food in the world: sweet fresh strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and slightly chilled. Can it get better? (Thinking......) Nope. I could eat them all day. :)

Apparently fellow Etsian BizzieLizzie feels the same way, since she just curated a great treasury about chocolate-covered strawberries and cherries. Our little tuxberry earrings were featured, along with lots of other delicious goodies. Enjoy!

Cupcakes take the cake mention!!!!!

2007-11-01T00:38:00.001-05:00

One of our favorite foodie blogs is Cupcakes Take the Cake, dedicated to all things cupcake. Seriously, we read the blog religiously and salivate over the photos on basically a daily basis. So, imagine our supreme delight when we discovered some really familiar cupcakes featured! Thank you guys, it made our week to see our cupcake charms on your blog! :)

If you'd like to see our complete collection of cupcake charms, check out our flickr set dedicated to them, the cupcake charms page on our website, or our cupcake charm listing on etsy.

(Did this post really need that many exclamation points? Heck yeah!)

When life gives you lemons... treasury

2007-10-30T22:34:00.001-05:00

We love lemons. There's something so refreshing and fundamentally happy about anything lemon. Perhaps it's the sunny color, or the tart flavor, or the fact that virtually everything made with lemons is just delicious and fun. If there is one tree that will eventually force me to build a greenhouse, it would be a Meyer Lemon tree. Imagine: fresh lemons year-round! And that lemon blossom fragrance. Delightful.

We were thrilled to see a fantastic new collection of lemony goodies this evening, curated by TeriPersing. She included our lemon meringue pie earrings (which are a ton of fun to make, incidentally!), as well as a bunch of great lemon-themed items. The lemon-lime apron might need to find its way to my kitchen, and those lemon drop earrings look exactly like lemon custard. I'm nearly out of soap, so the lemon soap by daisycakessoap looks especially tempting!
(Click for a closer view of all of the items.)

Studio shot Tuesday

2007-10-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

The lovely Ryan over at littleputbooks had the brilliant idea to have a weekly studio photo, no cleaning allowed beforehand. Since I finally remembered to take a photo while there was still decent light, I'll share our worktable in all its glory!

There are all kinds of goodies in progress on the table: lemons, cupcakes, key lime pie, sprinkles, and even some avocados in the distance!

The table itself is a fantastic huge tile-topped dining table that can easily seat 8 (when not covered in tiny food, that is!) It was a gift from a generous friend who was moving out of state. I can't imagine working on any other table- the tile is always nice and cool, and it's easy to see flecks of dirt that are just waiting to integrate themselves into the white clay.

As a gratuitous cute pet photo, here's my rescue Siamese cat, Olivia. She's not very helpful, generally, but she is very sweet.

Pumpkin Festival!

2007-10-25T10:50:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we went to the Centerville Pumpkin Festival, out near Richmond, Virginia. It was a show partly sponsored by Etsy, and featured a bunch of etsians along with alpacas and, of course, pumpkins. We are used to the Charlottesville City Market, which is not only early in the morning, but also definitely focused on produce and other foods. Crafts are emphatically not the focus. (It's great to have the mix, and we adore the market, for the record.)

So, it's always a bit of a shock to go to true arts and crafts shows, since everyone there is about the crafts. It's quite a different thing to have someone primarily shopping for their tomatoes and eggplants take a glance at your booth than it is to have people with a passion for their own craft come and carefully admire your work. And it's incredibly flattering to have artists whose work you admire squeal in delight over your work!

Not to mention that some of them take great photos of the show! (Thank you again to liskidder, who took this photo of us in our booth, along with some other fun photos from the festival.)

Because it was also etsy, there were some serious fringe benefits to the show! First, the organizers came around with water and snacks for all of the vendors. Nothing like bottled water and some tasty peanut butter and crackers mid-way through a show- believe me! Then, because it was etsy specifically, the lovely ladies from the Etsy labs gave each of us a pumpkin spiced lip balm. Fed, watered, and moisturized!

Finally, as an after-show perk, backwoodsophisticate has put together a Pumpkin Festival Treasury highlighting a bunch of cool items from the show. Appalachia has some truly stunning felted bags, and liskidder's work cannot be captured by photography (she does wonderful photography, but her glass needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated!) Beeskneesstudio, along with a fantastic name, does fabulous paintings. She's one of those artists who does such precise and careful work that she makes it look easy. crvimages takes haunting and incredible photographs (and there's a special place in my heart for his airport motel image.)

A well-traveled avocado

2007-10-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest aspects of creating tiny food jewelry is seeing where pieces end up. Packaging up an order to send to Norway, or Japan, or Louisiana is always a treat; it's a step closer to traveling to new and fabulous places than simply reading about them. Our little goodies, and our handwritten notes will actually be held and enjoyed by some real person in a far-flung locale.

Of course, sometimes the journey a piece takes to its final destination is more circuitous than others!

Yesterday we got an email from one of our favorite people, telling us that she had just received one of our goodies in the mail from Europe! Perhaps this does not seem so surprising. However, consider that the avocado began in Virginia, was sent to Europe, then sent back to the West Coast of the US. Surely this is the best-traveled avocado we've ever encountered! It must have logged well over 8400 miles (check out this cool interactive map distance calculator!)

Aside from the wonders of a global marketplace, how did this journey happen? Our friend belongs to a very cool online community that is all about exchanging themed packages in the mail. We'd never heard of it until she mentioned it, but the idea behind Swap-bot is fantastic. You specify your likes and dislikes (these can be incredibly specific, and a lot of fun to read), then are partnered with a buddy for a swap. There is generally a theme (cupcakes, Secret Santa, $10 and under), and a budget, and you each assemble nifty little packages to send to the other. Each of you gets a cool surprise package in the mail.

In the case of our well-traveled avocado, someone purchased the avocado from us, we sent it off the Europe (with a slightly wistful sigh, no doubt!), the purchaser received it and decided to include it in her swap package with our friend. So, bundled anew, nestled among a variety of other treasures, our avocado made its way back to the US, and nearly all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

If only we logged as many miles seeing the world each year!

An interview!

2007-10-23T13:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we got a very warm and fuzzy feeling when Angela over at angelasgiftnook on etsy asked whether she could interview us for her blog. She published the interview lickety-split, and you can head over to her blog to read our interview!

We have to say, despite the fact that it was a written interview, it really doesn't get any easier to not feel really silly and awkward answering questions intended for publication. It was even worse last year when we were interviewed on camera for a local tv station. The reporter was lovely and very sweet, the cameraman friendly. No matter that we had already answered her questions two times apiece, the moment that camera came up level with our faces, we both blushed up a storm and froze. Forget deer in the headlights, jewelers faced with a camera is even worse.

Is any of this meant to discourage further interviews? Not at all! We're really very social and talkative. It might help, though, if you're so stealthy about your interview technique that we don't even realize it's an interview. And if you bring along a couple of nice glasses of Viognier or perhaps two really well-mixed Cosmos, that wouldn't hurt either.

Flickr

2007-10-22T20:24:00.000-05:00

We've finally created a Flickr account! We've been trying to photograph and organize all of our new goodies as efficiently as possible, and posting them on our website just isn't that quick. So, in the meantime we'll be uploading our entire portfolio to our Flickr page. Everything will be organized by menu item. So, all of the cupcake charms, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. will all be together in the cupcakes set. Likewise for the fruit and vegetables. We'll try to create a post here that collates everything in an organized fashion, so that it's easy to see all of our goodies at once.

Eventually, all of these photos will be on our website as well, so that you can easily purchase the goodies you'd like. In the meantime, though, feel free to email us to request items you'd like!

Our Flickr account is http://www.flickr.com/photos/inediblejewelry

All kiwis great and small

2007-10-21T14:10:00.000-05:00

One of the best vacations our family took was to the incredible country of New Zealand. We were lucky enough to see one of their adorable kiwis (the reclusive, elusive, and endangered bird), as well as see and eat a ton of fresh Chinese gooseberries. If you've never had a pavlova, we highly recommend the antipodean confection- cream, meringue, and a ton of fresh fruit.

While we were traveling through New Zealand, we were inspired to put together a gourmet kiwi bracelet. Lots of tiny kiwi charms, and a bunch of colorful glass beads individually wrapped onto a sterling silver bracelet. We loved the design so much that we re-created it for our etsy shop.

We were thrilled today when we noticed that it is featured in a great treasury curated by EliNOpus. Doubly thrilled that she also features a great print of a kiwi (the bird). Click on the image for a closer look at all of the goodies she selected.

Fruit is the new black

2007-10-18T21:14:00.003-05:00

The second of the two healthy treasuries today! This one is focused on fruit, and was curated by AvocadoVintage (fantastic shop name!) She's chosen some very cool goodies- the paintings of the grapefruit and the black figs are especially stunning. And the pear pin cushion is fantastically realistic. We're thrilled that our pomegranate earrings have made it into another treasury! (Click on the image for a closer look.)

Vegetables

2007-10-18T12:08:00.001-05:00

Today is apparently the day of extremely healthy treasuries on etsy! We'll start with the vegetable treasury curated by lusitania. She's picked some great new veggie items that we haven't seen before, as well as chosen the very seasonally-appropriate garlic earrings from our shop. (Not guaranteed to keep away vampires, but it will probably give them pause as they approach your neck.)

Click on the image of the treasury for a closer view! And definitely look at the onion belt buckle by belt- it's stunning.

Show Schedule: Fall

2007-10-16T19:47:00.001-05:00

Charlottesville Holiday Market
(Charlottesville, Virginia)
every Friday and Saturday
November 2- December 22, 2007
10am - 4pm
east end of the Downtown Mall, near the Pavilion and City Hall

Shows we've recently done:

Centerville Pumpkin Festival
(near Richmond, Virginia)
October 20, 2007
10am - 4pm
http://centervillepumpkinfestival.blogspot.com

Charlottesville City Market
Saturdays April- October
7am- 12pm

Take-out and fortune cookies

2007-10-15T14:48:00.001-05:00

When we are at shows, it's crucially important for our customers to have a box or a bag to carry away their new goodies. Sure, we could have a simple paper bag, or even a colorful baggie with a handle and maybe a stamp with "I love food" on it. All cute ideas.

But we're about food, fundamentally, and what could be more appropriate than a Chinese take-out box for our packaging? It fits our work perfectly along with a business card, and everyone laughs when we hand them their box. Plus, it's so much fun, our customers can simply add a tag and a ribbon and their goodies are already gift-wrapped!

So, inspired by our packaging, and our love of Chinese food, we created these fun take-out box earrings. They are complete with a little moveable wire handle, hand-painted red pagodas, and the sides and top even have the fold details like the real boxes. They come with little fortune cookies, just like the real thing!

Interestingly, the iconic box was originally used in the early 20th century as a pail for oysters, since it is mostly waterproof. Only a bit later on was it appropriated for use as a to-go container for Chinese food. You can read more about oyster pails on the wiki page devoted to them.

We were thrilled that our earrings have been mentioned on another blog. You can read about fortune cookies, and see lots of other cute fortune cookie goodies here. Thanks Tootsie and Grace for the mention!

Candy corn

2007-10-13T23:08:00.001-05:00

Candy corn is one of those iconic foods that represent fall, at least here in the US. Colorful and fun, it is also strangely compelling food. When there's a bowl of candy corn out, it's very difficult to resist taking a few pieces. Some people absolutely adore the slightly honey-vanilla flavor (in the good candy corns), while many other people just find it cloyingly sweet and unbearable. Either way, nearly everyone takes a piece when offered. And even if you can't stand the stuff gastronomically, it is fun to look at.

Apparently, candy corn has been around as a confection for over 100 years (originally created in the 1880's). A nifty little history of candy corn can be found on the National Confectioner's Association page dedicated to candy corn. I'll dig around a bit more and see whether I can find some photos of early candy corn production in action- it must have been quite a sight to see the three layers being individually poured by hand to create the finished candies!

On another note, we're thrilled to be included in a recent candy corn-themed treasury, curated by Analiese (a fantastic polymer clay artist- so it's doubly complimentary to have our work chosen!). I love how she's arranged her treasury to mimic the actual candy, and her selections are delectable. (Click for a closer view.)

Seasonal goodies treasury

2007-10-12T12:37:00.000-05:00

Fall finally feels like it has arrived here in tinyfoodlandia. The back porch is covered in leaves from the neighbor's trees, the air is crisp, and I have an insatiable craving for pumpkin spiced lattes. All definite signs of fall.

And while most people, when asked what produce is representative of fall, would immediately answer pumpkins or corn, or perhaps even candy corn, we've gone for the slightly more unusual. One of our newest fruit charms is the pomegranate. Split open, and filled with tiny (individually sculpted!) glistening red seeds, these fruits are stunning.

We were thrilled this morning while checking etsy (spiced latte in hand, kiwi slippers on the feet) to see that our pomegranate earrings had been included in a new seasonal harvest treasury. This one is curated by greencircle, and has a lovely collection of fall goodies. (Click for a closer view.) Those whoopie pies look delectable, the cat with the turkey is pretty cute, and those happy stuffed candy corns are hilarious.

National Popcorn Month

2007-10-10T20:03:00.000-05:00

That's right, folks! October is National Popcorn Month. The month to celebrate delectable explosions of starch. Yum! We love popcorn here at inediblog, and have a serious running debate as to the best method to prepare it. (The real stuff, not the charms!)

Chef Susan maintains that the only way to create real popcorn is in a pan on the stovetop. Pour in enough cooking oil to just coat the bottom of a saucepan, put in three kernels, then turn the heat up to about medium. When the three kernels have popped, the oil is sufficiently heated, and it's time to pour in enough kernels to just cover the bottom of the pan (about 1/3 cup, although it depends a bit on the size of your pan.) Let the kernels pop, pour them into a bowl, and enjoy!

Chef Jess loves that method, but is amazingly good at burning the popcorn that way. She does still have an affection for microwave popcorn, but given the recent medical concerns over microwaved popcorn, she's trying to perfect the stovetop method.

Regardless of how the popcorn comes to be popped, it's delicious accompanied by a nice tall glass of orange juice. Sounds weird? Try it! It's delicious. Popcorn is also surprisingly tasty with plain m&m's (something about the contrast of salty and sweet, chocolate and butter). Chef Jess's Mr. Inedible swears by popcorn with brewer's yeast and tamari (very savory.)

What's your favorite way to have popcorn?

WeLoveEtsy

2007-10-04T21:45:00.001-05:00

Etsy.com is a great site (clearly we love it, since we mention it all the time!), but one of the aspects of the site that needs a bit of work is the search function. Hint: use "NOT" to filter out supplies, patterns, etc. that you're not looking for. It will definitely streamline your search.

Some other Etsy sellers have put together an online directory of Etsy shops that allows you to search by category, alphabetically, and also has a few reviews of shops. Some of these functions are replicates of features found in Etsy itself, but are a bit more streamlined right now.

If you're interested, check out WeLoveEtsy.com.

Happy shopping!

Eggplant treasury!

2007-10-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

It's finally starting to feel like fall here in tinyfoodlandia (aka Inedible Jewelry headquarters). And what better way to celebrate than to break out the warm fall colors?

Today we were pleasantly surprised to see our little eggplant earrings in a new treasury on etsy, curated by TagYourIt. Eggplant-colored goodies for your ears, neck, books, walls, and even your disturbingly large-eyed Blythe doll.

It makes me want to wear a turtleneck and throw some eggplant parmesana in the oven. (Click on the image for a closer view!)

National chicken month

2007-09-27T02:29:00.000-05:00

Yes folks, that's right, it's National Chicken Month. It is also National Biscuit month, National 5-a-day month, National Mushroom month, National Honey month, National Potato month, National Rice Month, and California Wild Rice Month. September is evidently quite the month for carbs. It is also the month celebrating Organic Harvests and coupons!

Do you suppose that when people are deciding which month they should choose for their cause célèbre they actually look at what other holidays are already in that month? How else do you get a month dedicated to Shameless Self Promotion, Updating Your Resume, and Self-Improvement?

Anyhow, in the interests of shameless promotion of other people, here is a collection of chicken-themed goodies from etsy:

Stitch markers!

2007-09-11T16:53:00.000-05:00

A lovely woman in the UK is opening a new online boutique devoted to the art of the sock (a truly underappreciated article of clothing), and has commissioned several fun sets of stitch markers from us. Her shop will be opening September 15 (this Friday!), and can be found at socktopus.co.uk.

Not only does she have some absolutely lovely luscious yarn, she also will carry needles, and of course tasty little stitch markers. You know your knitting would like some tiny food too!

We have created five sets of stitch markers exclusively for her shop!

Set 1: Salsa avocado, red chili pepper, garlic, tomato, and green chili pepper
Set 2: Diner hamburger, hot dog, packet of fries, ketchup, and bottle of cola
Set 3: Cupcakes vanilla birthday, pink chocolate cherry, chocolate birthday, pink rose vanilla, and mint chocolate
Set 4: Fruits grapefruit, lemon, orange, red apple, and grapes
Set 5: Sushi tamago, shrimp nigiri, bowl of wasabi, salmon nigiri, and salmon roe roll

A preview of the markers is below. If you'd like some for yourself, visit her shop and order a set, or two!

9 to 5 treasury

2007-09-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

We want to thank amandajean for her really cute treasury dedicated to a fine 80s film starring Dolly Parton: 9 to 5. She picked some great items, and we're thrilled that our burger and fries cuff links were included! And no idea what I'd use it for, really, but I adore the address file box by UglyKitty. All of these goodies will surely make your office day that much more fun.

(Click for a closer view!)

"meat is the new cupcake"

2007-09-10T13:00:00.001-05:00

A thank you to McYarnpants for including us in her fun meaty treasury on etsy. This is a hilarious collection of t-bone themed things, from a Hungry meat plushie, to a steak shirt. And of course our really serious steak earrings.

The treasury itself is pretty hilarious, but the curator's comment on her treasury truly deserves to be archived here for posterity:

McYarnPants comments: "It's crazy isn't it? I truly believe that meat is the new cupcake. As far as cutified food is concerned, anyway. I wouldn't want to finish off a nice dinner with a chocolate-frosted steak... or would I?"

So, you heard it here first (after the treasury, anyhow): meat is officially the next cupcake.

(Click on the image to see a larger version.)

La Tomatina!

2007-08-30T11:52:00.000-05:00

Well, we successfully missed this annual Spanish festival by a whole day. But oh well! We'll write about it a day late. :)

Basically, La Tomatina celebrates the summer harvest of tomatoes in Spain by having an enormous, hour-long tomato fight in the streets of Buñol, near Valencia.

On the one hand, such a massive fight with fresh tomatoes seems like a waste of perfectly good produce. On the other, anyone who has grown tomatoes in their gardens probably knows that there is some point when those plants produce such a massive quantity of ripe fruit that your life is completely overrun. Sure, at first, you're enthusiastic: "Let's have a tomato salad!" "Let's make our own pasta sauce!" "Let's revive the long-lost art of canning tomatoes!"

Then, having dressed, stewed, canned, and otherwise prepared those tomatoes until you're not certain what happened to your last three entire weekends, you discover that your kitchen counters are still no longer visible underneath the latest batch of fresh tomatoes. Your neighbors stop answering the door when you come to give them some of the surplus.

When you reach this point, suddenly La Tomatina makes a great deal of sense. FLING the tomatoes! To read more about the festival, and some of the other traditions involved (oh yes, there is a greased pole with a ham atop!), check out the wikipedia page devoted to it.

And if you were clever enough to only plant a responsible single tomato plant this summer, and still love the fruits enough to perhaps want to wear tiny versions of them, check out our tomato earrings!

Berries and limes treasury

2007-08-29T10:37:00.001-05:00

A big thank you to Saralibbey for including our key lime pie earrings in her lovely "Berries and Limes" treasury! (Click on the image for a closer look.) I'd also like to point out that incredibly cute pink sheep.

(And can I also point out how well this treasury matches the colors of our blog?)

Fall classes in Staunton!

2007-08-26T08:11:00.001-05:00

People frequently ask how on earth we make our tiny food jewelry. Well, if you'd like to learn some basics of jewelry-making and tiny food-sculpting and you live near Staunton, Virginia, come take a free class through the library! These classes are open to students ages 12 and up.

Chef Jess will be running three classes this fall:
1. Introduction to Jewelry-making
2. Introduction to fruits & vegetables (with a focus on fall veggies)
3. Introduction to baked goods

To see the class schedule, visit the Staunton Library page. To sign up, visit the library in person!

If you live a bit further away, not to worry. I'm hoping to upload some simple tutorials in the near future so that you can learn these techniques (or refresh your skills, if you were in class!). Check back soon.

Rolling Broccoli Riders

2007-08-23T06:47:00.000-05:00

One of our lovely customers purchased a pair of these broccoli cuff links recently. We always send a thank you email, confirming the purchase and letting people know when their goodies will ship. Virtually no one ever responds to this email. In this instance, however, she replied and gave us the story behind her purchase- a rare treat for us!

Turns out she wanted these broccoli cuff links for her husband, who happens to be an avid motorcyclist (strictly BMWs, which sounds really familiar, Mr. Inedible being a vintage BMW ~~addict~~ rider himself.)

What on earth, you might ask, does broccoli have to do with BMW motorcycling? Well, everything it turns out! Her husband is a member of a group of motorcycle enthusiasts (emphatically not a motorcycle gang) that call themselves The International Order of Rolling Broccoli Riders. They even have a website! You can read all about the history of the order (which is truly international, with members from both Canada and the US), as well as learn some of their broccoli songs.

This is certainly the best broccoli-themed association ever invented!

So, when you're traveling through Canada or some of the more northerly parts of the US, be on the lookout for some really friendly guys on BMWs. You'll know it's the Broccoli Riders if they all have green thumbnails. (Or if they're wearing broccoli cuff links!)

Retail locations: boutiques

2007-08-23T04:08:00.002-05:00

For all of you lovely people out there who love a boutique shopping experience, here is a complete list of the bricks and mortar shops that carry our goodies. Be sure to call ahead and inquire if you're looking for something specific, since each of these shops only carry selected items from our line.

plum accessory gift boutique

401 East Main Street
Ventura CA 93001
(805) 407-4848

Texas Art Spot

122 N.Beaton St.
Corsicana, TX 75110
(903) 874-4497

www.texasartspot.com

Wholly Craft

3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
(614) 447-3445
Open 1-8pm. Closed Tuesdays.

www.whollycraft.net

OAK Boston

31 Gloucester St.
Boston, MA

www.oakboston.com

enfant & companie

4687 Boul. Lavoisier

Saint-Léonard, QC
H1R 3E9
514.327.8484

www.enfantetcompagnie.com

what's cooking: August 22 2007

2007-08-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

I love the idea of weekly features on a blog. On Sundays, we have Inedible Art, featuring other artists who love food and use it as inspiration in some way or another.

I'm thinking that Wednesdays should be What's Cooking. This feature will detail what we're working on this week (although we will certainly be sure not to give away any super-secret custom orders for birthdays, holidays, or other gift-giving occasions!) It will be a fun way to preview our newest goodies, see what we're up to, perhaps see some pieces in progress (much depends on my ability to remember to take photos while it is still light out.)

This week we have a small raft of custom requests:

1. custom red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a gold star decoration (see photo above)

2. slices of white bread with the following toppings:
a. peanut butter (creamy)
b. strawberry jam
c. grape jelly
d. nutella (here's a fun page of random nutella trivia)

3. cucumbers
4. bunch of asparagus
5. bowl of chili
6. plate of salad as a pin (no dressing, definitely no olives)

7. mojito earrings (with mint and lime slice garnishes)
(this one looks lovely but weak, this one the perfect color, and this one just plain delicious)

8. martini earrings
9. beer stein necklace (amber ale, with a very foamy head)
10. strawberry cheesecake

Rock lobster

2007-08-22T22:25:00.001-05:00

We're always asked how we come up with our ideas. Well, we like to eat. And cook. And listen to 80s music.

Which is likely the genesis of these two pieces. If you haven't heard it, the B-52s did a great song back in the day* called, yes, "Rock Lobster." The video is classic earlyish-80s random clips of old planes, boats, etc. interspersed with footage of the band doing silly things (the B-52s being known for their seriousness), and dancing collages of lobsters and clams. Fun stuff! The outfits alone are worth a look, not to mention that it's a great song.

Our contribution to the rock lobster category is two-fold: first, the bright red whole lobster charm. And, second, the lobster dinner cuff links, complete with lobster tail, lemon wedge, and generous helping of melted butter. Because what goes better with lobstah than buttah? You know you know someone in Maine or who works at that national chain who needs these.

*"The day" refers to a time when things were much cooler than they are now, which is always a little before everyone else got there. Everyone has a "the day," but theirs is always cooler than yours. In this instance, I was working on learning my first word when the song was originally recorded (1978) and Chef Sue was 5 years from being born, so take it with a grain of salt. :)

Inedible Art: Kellarama

2007-08-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

Kellarama makes the most hilarious food-shaped soaps we think we've ever seen. Created by artist Kelly DeVries from glycerin, coloring, scents, and other natural ingredients, these soaps will surely make your bathtub (not to mention your hallway bathroom!) a lot more fun. You know you need Peeps soap year-round! They even come as conjoined triplets, just like the real thing.

Or perhaps some cherry cheesecake? The cherries even look like they've soaked for an eternity in Maraschino, and become vaguely transparent as a result. Put a fork next to this one, and you'd never know it wasn't the real deal.

If she only offered dessert soaps, we'd still love kellarama, but what really distinguishes her work is the sheer variety of food options. With some serious Coca-Cola addicts in the family, we had to love the glass of cola soap. It even has ice cubes and a stripedy straw! This one would look great with some pizza soap.

Or perhaps you're more of a breakfast person? Well, she creates wasabi-scented fried eggs! You know you have a short-order cook in the family who needs these. They would be hilarious in a cast iron pan, next to the kitchen sink. (Perhaps she'll make some bacon soap to go with them?)

For those of you who prefer savory, she has shrimp soaps! We can only imagine these in one of those swanky Asian-fusion restaurants (you know, where the dumplings are $8 apiece), displayed next to each bathroom sink exactly as she has them photographed. Thankfully, these are scented with chai tea, instead of eau de Gulf Shrimp.

Finally, the pièce de résistance in her collection. After a lifetime of gourmet eating, you may find that you need a little something to help you along with your chewing. And for that, she has, oh yes folks: dentures soap! There are so many people who these would be perfect for: dentists, orthodontists, anyone needing a gift for a 60th birthday party, in-laws, me....

What does she need to create next? Well, certainly the aforementioned bacon soap. But honestly, anyone who can come up with green eggs and ham as a soap set doesn't need any help from us!

Our curated treasury made the front page!!!!

2007-08-18T21:38:00.001-05:00

YAY!

I was lucky enough to snag a treasury of our own to create (they are difficult to get- right time/ right place kinda deal.) Since it happened to be Julia Child's birthday the day I put it together, I decided to go with a whole kitchen/ cooking theme.

Here are each of the 16 items I picked, one at a time:

First, we have the awesome teacup ring by AnniePants. I adore the simple lines of this one, and the teeny spoon just makes it. Sterling silver on a custom-sized ring. She also sells matching earrings and a necklace in this style. Know any Brits?

Next up, we have the hilarious Breakfast Dragon print by nisfornate. The dragon needs coffee, is holding a spatula, wearing jammies, and is kinda slumped over a hot stove. But what really makes it? That's right: the bunny slippers.

Because good food can only be made better by great dishware, I added in some beautiful aqua-glazed plates by MSPottery. The combination of the clean lines, crackly aqua, and the unglazed white porcelain- wow! It makes me want new dishes.

There is something I love about this mixed (ha!)- media painting by ejwarhus. The texture of the canvas, plus the color choices, and of course the subject, all just come together. This would look so cool in my kitchen, above my real aqua mixer.

Another painting, expressing a sentiment I find myself so commonly voicing, whenever Mr. Inedible claims he does not want dessert of his own, then starts eyeing mine. Janet Nelson's painting perfectly captures my own disdain for sharing dessert, plus the lady has blue hair. Gotta love blue hair.

Next up is a very cool bar of soap by kellarama, shaped like cherry cheesecake. The cherries are kind of clear, the sauce is dribbly, and it's the same size as the real thing. It just might be a tad dangerous in the shower, first thing, before the coffee....

This fish bone cuff bracelet by jackiehaltom is absolutely incredible! Entirely hand-sawn from sterling silver, it also has an adorable expression on its little fish face. I'm not really a cuff person, but I want one of these.

We both adore these little felt squids from CleoDee. Her fish taco squid is the good-luck charm hanging from the rearview mirror in the Inedimobile. A fanged squid with a pink cupcake? Brilliant. And the little innocent eyes just make this one.

Every cook needs a great apron! This lovely aqua and white full apron by milliesaprons is both very functional (there ain't no marinara splatter gettin' past that one), and very stylish. Plus, the model looks thrilled to be in the kitchen.

Animals need inedible toys too! This hilarious catnip toy by Inquisitive is for truly discerning, international felines. Felted beef, basil leaves, and pho noodles, plus catnip. Pho-tastic! Mr. Inedible's cat definitely needs a set (pho addict that he is.)

Sometimes other cards just don't fully capture how you feel. This one by uccellocurioso lets your loved one know just how much you really care. They know how passionate you are about your food- let them know you feel the same way about them.

The egg pants by lizkin are the best egg holder I've ever seen. Ever. I mean, they make breakfast fun, and make your eggs look like they're about to rapidly waddle off the table and run away with the bacon and the toast. And they even stretch to fit your chubby eggs.

Two veggie treasuries

2007-08-16T17:49:00.000-05:00

We were thrilled this week when we were featured in two treasuries dedicated to vegetables! A while back it was all about the cupcakes. Perhaps we're seeing a new healthy-eating trend in the works? :)

The first one was curated by FortCloudy, and has some really hilarious selections! (Click on the image for a closer look.)
I adore the "Aw Shucks" card- how can you not love food puns? Sudlow makes gorgeous peas in the pod earrings. Our little avocado on a ribbon was featured in this one.

The second treasury was curated by SadieandLeo. I love how certain pieces show up again, and yet how different the overall collection looks! (Click on image for a closer look at everything.)

The painting of the onion is lovely, I adore the expressions on the irked felted carrots with buttons, and the asparagus card is fun and fresh. She included our broccoli cuff links in this one. (A guy's gotta have his veggies too!)

Update: Woot! The second treasury made the front page!! (We didn't know this until it was too late- the broccolis sold before we could add a second pair, alas. But they sold, so yay!)

Colorful studio tour

2007-08-16T01:35:00.000-05:00

We're part of the Etsy Bloggers Street Team (that sounds very stealthy and cool at the same time!), and each week they come up with a themed blog entry for each member to interpret. This week it's "Carnival of Colors." We feel well-qualified to contribute to this one, since our work is all about color (after being all about food, of course.) I thought I'd give a close-up tour of our studio, with a focus on the rainbows that are throughout the space.

First, we'll start with our clay! The medium we sculpt in is polymer clay. Polymer clay is essentially teensy particles of PVC suspended in a solution to make it pliable. The clay comes in a variety of colors (as you can see from the photo of my box of clay), and can be mixed in generally the same way as oil paints. Virtually any color can be created this way. The only real limitation is transparency. It's very difficult (if not impossible) to achieve a truly glassy transparency. Ice cubes, glasses of water, and the like are probably the most impossible food items to try to create from this clay.

Once we've mixed up the colors we'd like to use for a given project, we begin sculpting. Each bit of color is a different individual piece of clay. Every single colorful sprinkle on that birthday cupcake was created one at a time, by hand. The white swirled frosting is another piece, and the vanilla cake base is yet another. We generally don't use paints in our work, so if you see color, we've mixed it from clay!

Once the clay is sculpted, we add the loop that makes it into a charm (so we can make it into jewelry), then bake it. The baking process essentially cooks off the plasticizer solution that keeps the clay pliable, and results in a very sturdy charm. (Although sometimes things can go wrong- see the post about how not to make candy corn!)

After we've finished up our goodies, they are made into earrings, necklaces, or strung on ribbon. We put them up for sale, and ~~obsessively~~ conscientiously check our email for orders. When we get one (yay!), we print out the mailing label (double-check your mailing address, kids), and write up a personalized thank-you note. All of our orders then migrate over to the packing table, where we package them up to send out. Our paper clips also happen to make a pretty nifty rainbow there, along with our happy turquoise pen.

So, that's a quick overview of the inedible jewelry process, and a close-up studio tour.

Happy Birthday Julia Child!

2007-08-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

A short little post honoring a very famous cookbook writer, tv chef, and a woman who made it okay to exercise the five-second rule publicly. I think my favorite aspect of Julia Child is that she reportedly did not know how to cook at all until she was in her 30s, and then went on to write the classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking when she was nearly 50. I find that so inspiring!

She found her passion for cooking later in life. So often, it can seem that if you haven't found your passion or your career or made your mark before you're 30, it's somehow too late. You're a failure if you start over. I love reminders like Julia Child that it's never too late to learn something new, change careers, discover new passions and talents, and begin again.

To read more about her, here's a link to her wikipedia page, with some biographical references at the bottom. And here's a link to her kitchen, which is housed at the Smithsonian.

I wanted to create some tiny cookbook earrings for the occasion, but am a little overwhelmed with the cupcake army currently marching half-finished across my worktable. Next year!

coolest food treasury!

2007-08-15T03:08:00.000-05:00

We had to share this one with you all! We adore pretty much every single item in it. Plus it was created by a local group, The Richmond Craft Mafia, a pretty awesome group of crafters based in Richmond, Virginia, and host of the Spring Bada-Bing show.

(Click on the image below for a closer look, and read to the end of the post for links to all of the items!)

I'll go through row by row (brilliantly arranged by the four meals of the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.)

In the first row we have a fantastic painting about breakfast (part of a breakfast, lunch, and dinner series by the same artist; all of them are adorable.) Next, a cute little felt egg tart. Finally, a print that basically represents me each morning (and afternoon, and about 9pm....)

The second row features cute little screenprinted lunch totes, a very enthusiastic pb&j sandwich iron-on transfer, and a whole felted pretend lunch (although frankly, there really need to be three chocolate chip cookies in a proper lunch.)

The third row has a hilarious little felt dumpling, our Chinese take-out earrings, and a gorgeous handmade set of sushi plates.

The fourth row has a cute bracelet with polymer clay cookies, a kid's cupcake apron, and the most fantastic cookie-holding felted squid ever. Cleo Dee is a great company, and we'll have to feature them sometime soon on Inedible Art.

Whew.

Most important tool for crafting

2007-08-14T17:25:00.000-05:00

Someone recently posed the question "what is your most important tool for your art?" and it got me thinking. Far and away, I'd have to say that the most important tool for any artist or crafter has to be their imagination. No imagination, no art. Sure, you can make an exact copy of other work, but that really isn't quite the same thing as creating your own.

The next most important tool? Coffee. Definitely.

Some other tools that I think are crucial for any crafter or artist (particularly ones who sell their work):

1. patience
2. a thick skin (you have to be able to work through criticism, especially from yourself!)
3. the ability to budget (even in the face of fabulous supplies)
4. a willingness to innovate, push boundaries, and learn new techniques (especially if you've found something that works- stick with that one thing too long and you'll eventually stagnate)
5. good public relations (nice, but not too nice)

I know there are lots of others, and I'd love to hear your comments and additions to this list.

I'll certainly update it, as well as start a list that is specific to making tiny food. Many people seem fascinated by how we create them, and it would be fun to share some aspects. (But not everything- we've got to keep some tricks up our sleeves!)

Finally, I have to share this treasury about coffee that was created by 22301828 (click on image for a closer view!):

We owe her a big thank you for including two of our goodies, the coffee lovers bracelet, and the coffee earrings. (Personally I am also drooling over that coffee sugar scrub, since I use a sugar scrub every day to get all of the clay off of my hands.)

Lime in the coconut

2007-08-14T02:29:00.000-05:00

You knew it would eventually happen! How could we have a blog about all things food and not feature this song at some point? Well, the summer is rapidly coming to a close, and I wasn't keen to wait all the way until next year.

So, I present to you the really fun little "Lime in the Coconut" video by some enterprising individual on You Tube. The animations are increasingly hilarious, as the tempo of the song picks up. Watch the lips.

And, yes, we also created some little lime and coconut earrings of our own.

Thank you to Henry Nilsson, the original writer and performer of the brilliantly simple song that is the anthem for "drink more piña coladas."

Deathly Hallows Treasury

2007-08-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

A while back we mentioned that we were surprised by the number of people requesting radish earrings. Well, this week, we have a follow-up to the story! The last Harry Potter book has, as basically everyone knows, been published. A clever Etsian has put together a treasury about horcruxes on etsy, and included our radishes! (Note: the radishes are not, in fact, horcruxes; do not be afraid to purchase them, they are not evil.)

Here's a screen shot of the treasury, which is really well-put together. (The colors flow together and really capture a mood!) Click on the image for a closer look.

The journal, the tiara, and the gold cup ring are all just stunning pieces! And the angel Snape is just so sad and sweet.

I love treasuries for the way they highlight amazing items I would have never otherwise run across, given the vast number of items for sale on etsy at any given time.

Thank you to OverTheTop for including us in her treasury!

Inedible art: AnthroPoMorphCo

2007-08-12T09:17:00.001-05:00

AnthroPoMorphCo has a very simple mission: to make everything your friend. That the vast majority of their goodies are friendly foods makes them all the more awesome.

The artist begins by creating hilariously expressive cartoons of various foods, and gives each of them a distinct personality and great name: Red light Radish, Too-cool Cucumber, No one Likes Broccoli. You get the idea.

Each character is then given life on various goodies, such as stickers, t-shirts, aprons, note cards, wine charms... you name it, she's probably got it. You can even make your own! She has patterns so that you can appliqué various humanized veggies onto pillows or backpacks, or wherever you need your Spud Muffin or Peapod Sisters.

She currently has three collections of food-themed friends (along with a collection of Holiday ones that are not foodie): Mental Vegetables, Gourds of Goth, and Drinky-Poos.

The Gourds of Goth are perfect for Fall and Halloween, or as gifts for your Cure-lovin', eyeliner-wearin' real friend or family member. The white pumpkin with the dark eyeliner is sheer genius. And how can you not love a name like "Baron von Butternut"?

The Drinky-Poos are a swank collection of goodies that you'd find behind a bar: Rocksie (ice cube!), Mara (a cherry), Piña (one guess), Olivier di Martini (a very swanky deboniar Olive- really, you have to see his eyes!), and several others.
You know you need a ring featuring a slice of pineapple for Ladies Night, or a pair of On the Rocks cuff links for a drink at the club.

What are we hoping for next? Baked Buddies. Friendly chocolate chip cookies, brownies, maybe a slice of birthday cake....

Inedible art: a weekly feature

2007-08-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here at Inediblog, we've decided that there are lots of talented artists out there creating inedible art, so we will be featuring a new one each week either on Saturday or Sunday.

But wait, you ask, isn't most art inedible? Sure, broadly defined. We plan to narrow it a bit to be art that is food-themed in some fashion. We do want to keep this feature as broadly-construed as possible so that we can highlight all kinds of fun stuff: paintings, soaps, cards, photos, crochet, songs, poems, toothpick sculptures. You get the idea.

If you run across any food-themed art in your travels across the webscape, drop us a line or leave us a comment here! We like quirky, and we like food.

On to the good stuff!

For Gentlemen Treasury

2007-08-10T16:27:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest features on Etsy is the ability to make curated collections of other artists' work. These collections are known as treasuries and feature a dozen items (plus 4 alternates, invisible to the public) all gathered together under some kind of theme. At any given time there are upwards of 222 treasuries, and each treasury only lasts for three days at most. So, it's neat to browse through them to see what kinds of new goodies people have found on Etsy. And to see how people put together lists.

The general idea is to feature work by other artists, so it is incredibly flattering to be included in a treasury!

The admins at Etsy pick their favorite treasury every four hours or so and put it as the front page of Etsy. We were lucky enough to get onto the front page once (with our avocado earrings), and the views on those skyrocketed as a result. It can be great exposure.

We are in one in the moment that is themed "For Gentlemen." I've taken a screen shot of the treasury and posted it below, since they are ephemeral. Click on the image for a closer view.

I especially like the theme of this one, since there is frequently the complaint that everything on Etsy is made by women, for women. We beg to differ!

I think my favorite item in this collection is the astro turf cuff links. Genuis.

Massive quantity of bacon

2007-08-10T14:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a day of serious tiny bacon-making chez Inedible.

This bacon frenzy was precipitated by three events in close succession:

1. We ran out of bacon and eggs cuff links.

2. Chef Jess's Mr. Inedible (a moniker to which he objects, but it will stand until I can think of something better) has made a brave foray into the world of home bacon curing. You can check out how to make your own bacon (complete with a photo gallery!), on his blog.

3. We received an awesome custom order for bacon earrings. Since bacon alone would have been a bit fragile, we put it into cast iron pans instead. (This was the brilliant suggestion of our client!)

I am especially happy with how these turned out. The bacon fat is perfectly translucentish, the cast iron even has teeny pour spouts, and the whole thing just screams "I love bacon." This outcome was, of course, the intention, since these are intended for a serious bacon-lover. (Note to bacon-lovin' woman: I have a wonderful friend who could be your soul mate, especially if you also enjoy the outdoors and hate invasive species.)

Finally, I have to link to the photo that served as the model for these earrings: thank you Chef Jess's Mr. Inedible!

Yeah toast!

2007-08-09T20:48:00.000-05:00

There are people with the coolest collections out there! This pair of earrings was a result of someone looking for a gift for their sister, who collects toasters. How could we resist the tiny pieces of toast as accents on these?

I'm especially happy with the stylin' lines of this classic chrome toaster. There's nothing fancy here- two slots, a lever, a deco black base. Very 1950s.

And of course, made complete with the toast. (What else besides white bread would really do?)
Elwood would be proud of the selection.

"You want anything on that toast?"
"No, ma'am, dry."

This pair of earrings also has a theme song: The Toast Song, by Heywood Banks. You must see this video! Really, we couldn't possibly top this song in clay form even if we tried. It's a masterpiece. I mean, the man is playing a toaster with two forks. The lyrics are brilliant. He's wearing a purple jacket. How can you beat it?

mentioned elsewhere

2007-08-09T04:26:00.000-05:00

We periodically cruise the internet checking to see who links to our shop or a specific goody that we've created. Somehow we've become classed as "new indie designers." This sounds flattering, and very hip, even if we're not sure what it means. :)

Nonetheless, we need to give a big thanks to the people over at nolestyle for linking to our etsy shop on their "new indie" page. It makes us feel cutting edge and cool. (Even if most of the time the reality of being an "indie designer" is coffee, more coffee, creating til the wee hours, paperwork, emails, filing, and putting packages to mail together. I don't know- does that still sound hip?)

We spent some time cruising through the remainder of their site, and they have some really cool taste- a tasty mixture of established and newer designers with a huge range in prices. We'll be very excited when they do a review of our work. We can't wait to see which of our goodies they are especially drawn to (are they cupcake people? sushi? burgers?)

Chocolate chip cookies

2007-08-08T19:34:00.001-05:00

Since this is my favorite recipe of all time, I thought I'd share it here! (Yes, I know it is far, far too hot to actually turn on the oven today, but soon enough you'll want to bake to help heat up the house!) And if you'd like some tiny milk and cookies, check out our earrings.

(Copied from my personal blog, which is badly neglected!)

In my opinion, the ultimate test of an american baker is their chocolate chip cookies. Depending on their cookies, you can really decide whether you might like their other offerings. To me there is nothing more disappointing than a beautiful, bland cookie. I prefer a cookie with a great buttery brown sugar flavor, with a layer of nuttiness from oatmeal, and fabulous chocolate. These cookies are my absolute favorite recipe (I might not be the healthiest eater…), honed over many years of making them. They are not the most beautiful cookies, but they are delicious.

Chocolate chip cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not imitation)
3/4 cup unbleached flour (organic has the best flavor, hands down)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (organic too!)
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup oatmeal (you can grind these in a food processor if you prefer; I prefer them whole.)
6 ounces chocolate chips (semi-sweet Ghirardelli are my favorites)

optional: 6 ounces chopped pecans or walnuts

*Preheat oven to 375˚F.
*Whip together the butter and sugars until well mixed.
*Add in egg, salt, vanilla and mix well.
* Add in flours, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until just incorporated.
* Add in oatmeal, chocolate chips, and nuts (if using).
* Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet. If you prefer a more aesthetically pleasing cookie, you can form them into 1″ balls, then press them gently onto the sheet. (But really, why bother?)
* Bake 10 minutes or so, or until gently golden.
* Let cool on a cooling rack (or paper towels on the counter) for a minute or until no longer about to fall apart.
* Enjoy!

** The dough can be refrigerated for a day or so. Or, you can tightly wrap up enough dough for a batch in plastic wrap and freeze the dough for a few weeks. When you’re ready to bake them, just slice the frozen roll of dough into cookies and bake.

** The cookies are most delicious either right out of the oven or the next day.

** Baked cookies can also be frozen in a tightly sealed container. They’re pretty good a little frozen too.

How not to make candy corn

2007-08-07T20:50:00.001-05:00

For the 13th post here at inediblog, it seems only fitting to talk about something that occasionally goes wrong.

On the left, we have a proper candy corn charm. On the right, we have what happens when the candy corn charm falls to the bottom of the oven and roasts for 20 minutes directly on the element. Burnt or dead. Perhaps oddly appropriate for Halloween, but still not exactly what I was aiming for. Eeek.

There is absolutely nothing more frustrating than sculpting a perfect charm, only to have it burn. Screwy shape? Smush clay and begin again. Wonky glaze? That can be fixed too. But there is absolutely nothing to be done for a burnt charm.

Thankfully, after many years of working with this clay, I've learned some baking tricks. Bake on parchment paper, use an oven thermometer and check the calibration of the oven monthly (it does go off), bake in smaller batches (20 ruined charms is much better than 100), and always keep some really good chocolate in the house. Why? Because nothing will make you feel better about having burnt several hours of work, but a bar of Lindt or Cadbury's Fruit and Nut will at least soften the blow. Whiskey will work in a pinch, too.

Fancy new business cards

2007-08-05T15:49:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I spent an entire Sunday rethinking and redesigning our business cards and our whole line of packaging. (Chef Susan was a huge editorial help with these too!) It's both a bit daunting and very exciting to think about how you want people to see your business, and how quickly they form their opinions of you based on something so seemingly trivial as a 3.5 x 2 piece of cardstock.

As an artist or crafter, it's sometimes tough to figure out how to really get across your personality in a static form. At markets and shows, there's dynamic exchange with customers, and it's easy to convey so much information about who you are, what you're about, and how fantastic your work is in 15 seconds. In static formats (online, print, or even in boutiques), it's much more difficult (for me anyway) to imagine how to convey all of those things to a potential buyer.

It really got me thinking about how to present our work, what we want our image to be, and big showy concepts like "branding" (no less important for the fact that our work is handmade!) How do we see our work? Clean, colorful, fun, whimsical. So, with those ideas in mind, I put together our business card. Clean white background with a very clean modern font. Just the important information. All of the color is in the three photos of our goodies (chosen to show a range of foods, colors, and split between work done by Susan and myself).

Once designed, we had them professionally printed on glossy cardstock, which has this amazing feel in the hand (and looks great on the fridge!) It's a pleasure to hand them out, I really think that they convey what our business is about visually, and the professional quality of the paper tells our buyers that we take our work seriously and strive for the absolute best quality in our work. (Of course, I also spent an entire day on this, and am therefore probably quite biased, and definitely prone to overthinking!)

I also redid our hang cards for our work that is sent out to the shops that sell our work. We hope that any of you who see them in person really feel that a bit of our personality and a lot of our love comes through! :)

Wholly Craft!

2007-08-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

Our first batch of goodies has just arrived at Wholly Craft, a boutique filled with handmade delights in Columbus, OH. Stop by and see our goodies in person! And if you can think of any Ohio-specific foods that we should be sending there, let us know. We racked our brains before sending the shipment, but got no further than buckeyes. (Are they edible?)

Do chili dogs count? For some reason, I associate them with Cincinnati.

Anywho, we're excited, and can't wait to see what Ohio thinks of our tiny foods. :)

other inedible art!

2007-08-04T13:26:00.000-05:00

Today was a market day, which is always a great deal of fun. Seeing people squeal in delight over teeny avocados or spaghetti and meatballs on a necklace, hearing stories about what our goodies remind people of, and best of all being sandwiched between two fresh produce vendors- what more can I ask for in a morning? (And the fresh stuff was particularly amazing today- local white peaches that are absolutely heavenly, and some picked-last-night cucumbers and yellow squash- I love it!)

As you can vaguely see from the photo at the beginning of this post, we have a largish sign advertising our wares. All day long, people read the "100% inedible", see the photos of the food, and exclaim "Really! You can eat it?!" I suspect this is partly because there is a vendor at our market who fries donuts on the spot, and as a result a cinnamon-sugar fried donut perfume is constantly wafting about on the breeze. (This is good for business.)

As you might well imagine, not a few people have asked whether we ever thought of making jewelry that was actually edible. To which we generally reply that it's been done (think drugstore candy necklaces), and that we can't imagine the stress of food vending, but that it's a great idea and they're more than welcome to run with it. Think of the repeat business!

Anyhow (after that really long lead-in), I couldn't help but love this article about a guy in California who uses tortillas as his canvas. Here we have someone who creates inedible art from something actually potentially edible. How I would love to be next to him at a market! Can you imagine the customers?

(In front of our booth, coffee in hand, with friend) "Really, you can eat it?"
"Nope, it just looks like food!"
"Oh cool!" (browse, browse, browse, take card, move along)
(moved along to tortilla artist's booth, next door)
"Wait, so you can eat it?"
"No, no, it's just on a tortilla."

Sadly, the article doesn't really show much of his work, so I tracked down his gallery website. Personally, I was kinda hoping for more use of the cool burn marks that flame leaves on the surface, as opposed to just the paint, but it's also possible that tortilla art does not translate well to photography.

All in all, though, it's always nice to run across people doing fun things with food! :)

An excellent summer dinner (and leftovers)

2007-08-03T15:05:00.001-05:00

It's August, which basically means two things in Virginia: 1. It's muggy, not unlike living inside a rice cooker. And 2. All those tomato plants are bursting with fresh deliciousness. So, what seemed like a great idea back in April, ("Sure, let's plant 6 tomato plants! We'll make pasta sauce, and live off tomatoes for the whole year!!!"), is suddenly an overwhelming prospect. The kitchen counters are no longer visible beneath the luscious red. And of course, the very last thing anyone wants to do in the muggy rice cooker heat is stand over a pot of proper Italian pasta sauce.

So, I was so excited when I ran across a pasta recipe in last Sunday's New York Times that didn't require cooking and takes advantage of all the wonderful summery goodness of fresh tomatoes. Basically, it is caprese left to meld all day (ah, no real work apart from chopping), then tossed with freshly cooked penne when it's dinnertime. With a bottle of Chianti- mmmm! (Kiss fingertips, throw them in air with a flourish.)

I'd make a few minor modifications to the recipe from the NYT. First, summer really calls for light dinners. The penne is a bit large- I'd prefer a higher tomato content. I'd recommend a smaller, thinner pasta instead. Perhaps a small penne or even a spiral instead. The delicious juicy sauce would still cling, but there would be less pasta.

Secondly, I'd definitely recommend adding some garlic to the basil-olive oil infusion. It's not strictly necessary, but what Italian dish isn't improved by garlic?

Finally, I'd recommend stirring the mozzarella and the pasta together in the strainer, then adding them in with the tomato mixture. Otherwise, the mozzarella melts and instead of melty chunks of cheese interspersed with pasta, you basically get gigantic globs o' cheese. This is delicious, but a bit unbalanced. :)

Happy tomato eating!

August is Happiness month

2007-08-01T18:21:00.000-05:00

August is officially the month that recognizes that happiness happens. We are generally pretty upbeat here at inedible jewelry, because despite the fact that crummy things happen, we still like to laugh.

I was so pleased to discover (while perusing my trusty Chase's Calendar of Events, a fine publication) that there is an entire society dedicated to remembering that there is always a silver lining, and that "happiness happens." A whole month dedicated to reminding people not to rain on other peoples' parades! There is even a secret society of happy people.

So, in the spirit of happiness, go get yourself or someone who needs cheering up a giant rainbow lollipop (real or inedible), pay someone else's toll, talk to an old friend, or do something else friendly and fun this month!

Waffle earrings

2007-07-27T00:57:00.000-05:00

We love breakfast here at inedible jewelry. Apparently, the people over at teamsugar love breakfast too! They featured our Belgian waffle earrings!

These waffles are a lot of fun to create (but then, all of our goodies are fun to create....) They are, of course, segmented into four triangles, perfectly toasted, and garnished with a big dollop of whipped cream and a fresh strawberry. The earrings have a syrup-colored Czech glass accent and are finished on your choice of ear wires (surgical steel wires are shown.) If you need some of your own, they're for sale in our etsy shop! (Click on post title!)

We also have lots of other breakfast goodies as earrings! Witness the majesty of the bacon and eggs earrings, and the pancakes earrings:

Fruit tart obi-dome

2007-07-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we learn the most amazing things through creating tiny foods! For example, we met a lovely woman recently who enjoys dressing in kimono. Although I'm a fan of some Japanese cinema (the old Zatoichi movies are fun), I really know virtually nothing about the intricacies of kimono.

The blue part of the picture to the left is the kimono, the pale green band about the middle is the obi, and that teeny tiny circular bit in the very center is a decorative pin called an obi-dome. (Someone more knowledgeable, please correct me if I'm wrong about any of these!) Apparently, the obi-dome can be a whimsical little accessory, and in this case, our client wanted a tiny fruit tart to complete her summer kimono.

I love to create the tiny fruit tarts, since each one has a unique arrangement of kiwis, bananas, mandarin oranges, and various assorted berries. From a distance, they look like millefiori, and only upon closer inspection do the tiny fruits reveal themselves.

This particular tart was a bit larger than usual, since it is affixed to a pin backing (when not used as an obi-dome, it would also look really cute on a cardigan). I went heavy on the berries, since she loves berries in particular. Here's the tart up close. It measures almost exactly 1" in diameter (you can get a sense of the scale from the photo of our client modeling it!)

We'll definitely be creating more of these as pins in the near future! If you need one of your own (or another style of obi-dome, for that matter), please feel free to contact us through our website or through etsy.

(A big thank you to SR & her husband for providing the photos!)

Greek foods bracelet

2007-07-24T22:10:00.000-05:00

We really love custom requests here at inedible jewelry. They are invariably both real challenges (so we learn a lot), and come with great stories. (We're suckers for great stories.)

This request came from a man who wanted to give his wife something really special for their one-year wedding anniversary. Their favorite restaurant is a little Greek place, so he wanted some special Greek foods on a bracelet. Five goodies adorn this bracelet. We made them like a meal to be shared (this was an anniversary present, after all!)

1. First we have the Greek salad- crunchy romaine lettuce, with fresh feta cheese, tomatoes, and kalamata olives, all in a white bowl.

2. A plate of toasted pita and hummus. Mmm, even garnished with a bit of parsley.

3. A plate full of dolmades, with lemon slice garnishes. How can you have dolmades without lemon?

4. A big bowl of lentil soup, with a bit of parsley garnish there too. The soup was by far the most difficult charm to create- each little lentil was hand-sculpted, and the tomato-based broth took an eternity to devise!

5. And that little wine bottle in the center? The vintage is 2006, the year they were married.

Finally, there always needs to be dessert! So, we added in some little pistachio baklava earrings to complete the set.