Miniature Halloween cookies tutorial using polymer clay

Looking for a spooktacular quick-make project this Halloween? Look no further than this miniature Halloween cookies tutorial using polymer clay. Lynn Allingham shows you how to make a devilishly frightful baking scene including miniature skeletons, tombstones and mummies... Happy 'baking'!

DIY miniature Halloween cookies

By Lynn Allingham.

You will need

Materials required

• Polymer clay: white, yellow and black
• Soft pastels: white, brown, rusty orange and yellow
• Tulip brand dimensional fabric paints: white, red, green and brown
• Acrylic paint: red and black
• 1x 50mm x 50mm miniature wooden board
• 1x 40mm x 10mm miniature wooden rolling pin
• 1x 50mm x 40mm miniature wooden tray
• Tin (disposable baking tin)
• Thin white paper (preferably plain newsprint)
• 3mm double-sided tape
• Small piece of light coloured material
• Paper
• Strong glue

Tools required

• Round nosed pliers
• Toothbrush (new or used)
• Cosmetic foam applicator
• Medium flat wash paintbrush
• Bare craft blade
• Cocktail stick
• Scissors
• Pencil

“It can be hard creating intricate designs on pieces of this scale, to make it easier, simply secure the pieces to your worktop using little double-sided tape, this will hold them steady while being worked on and can be easily removed once dry."

Method

1. Draw out three basic designs for cookie cutters, no larger than 15mm in height, on a plain piece of paper. Take a piece of tin and cut into three long strips roughly 10mm in length and 3mm in width. Use round nosed pliers and your fingers to carefully shape and bend each piece of tin to match the drawn cookie cutter designs. Use a small piece of double-sided tape to fix each cutter in place.

2. Mix white and a bit of yellow clay to create cream. Roll and flatten the clay until it's roughly 1-2mm in thickness. Randomly drape the clay over the wooden board and a little over the wooden rolling pin, as pictured. Take the cookie cutters made in step 1, use to cut and position a few cookies, as pictured. Dust the whole piece to resemble flour with white powdered pastel.

3. Take another piece of cream clay and roll out to 1-2mm in thickness. Use a toothbrush to texture the surface of the clay. Take all three tin cutters and cut three of each design from the textured clay. Use a cosmetic foam applicator and soft pastels in brown and rusty orange to apply colour to each cookie to resemble a baked appearance.

Making miniature mummy cookies

4. Working with the three round cookies from step 3 and start to turn them into mummies by applying 1-2mm eyes on each using white and black clay. Make a few more eyes and randomly scatter them on the wooden board from step 2, as pictured.

5. Make bandages for the mummies by rolling white clay as thin as possible and cut into long strips 1-2mm in width. Drape and trim the white strips over the mummy cookies to achieve the desired effect. Drape a few strips of white over the wooden board to set the scene.

Looking for more marvellous miniature inspiration? Immerse yourself in Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine today!

6. Bake all pieces from steps 2-5 as recommended. Once cooled take the three-figure shaped cookies and use white dimensional fabric paint and a cocktail stick to delicately draw a simple skeleton design onto each. Leave to dry.

Making miniature tombstone cookies

7. Take the three tombstone shaped cookies and use dimensional fabric paint in red, green and brown to draw a blood soaked RIP design onto each cookie with a cocktail stick. Leave to dry.

Making miniature skeleton cookies

8. Use black acrylic to apply small detailing on each skeleton cookie, such as, eyes, nose and pelvic holes. Leave to dry.

9. To create a simple piping bag take a piece of thin white paper, roll and shape into a cone roughly 50-60mm in length and secure with a piece of double-sided tape.

10. Cut and shape a small piece of tin to create a cone nozzle, and then place into the very end of the piping bag, as pictured. Pack the piping bag with pieces of screwed up paper to give it a full appearance. Twist the top of the bag to close.

11. To create napkins, take a small piece of light material and cut into three 30x30mm squares. Lightly fray the edges of each square, as pictured. Take red acrylic and thin with a little water. Use a medium flat wash brush to create a spattered blood effect on each napkin. Leave to dry.

12. Fold each napkin diagonally in half and secure with a little double-sided tape. Take a miniature wooden tray and all pieces from steps 1-11 and position and display as desired or as pictured to create a fun Halloween baking scene.

"All the cookies in this project can be glued and secured into place but my top tip is to leave them all loose so that the scene can be changed whenever you like, giving your dolls house a little variety without making a whole new set."

Continue the theme and learn how to make a miniature carved pumpkin using polymer clay!