Pocket Watch Cake

Let me share a secret with you about my creativity... I decide I want to make a project, and then make it happen. I tend not to research how to do something until after I have tried to figure it out for myself. I learn from my mistakes and it helps me to ensure I don't do it again. Whilst I accept a few projects are out of my range just now (a wedding cake covered in piped royal icing, for example!) I like to just dive in head first and see what happens.

My husband is never too fussed what he wants for his Birthday cake, but when I suggested a cake based on his new pocket watch, he liked the sound of it! Somehow I managed to make this cake whilst more ill than usual, but a good set up and doing a little bit at a time helped me manage it!

The base is my favourite Whisk Kid's chocolate cake. It is a reliable, long-lasting, moist cake which is dense enough to handle a bit of carving. The coffee deepens the flavour but does not overwhelm, and weaker coffee can be used if making it for children.

I hollowed out the centre of the cake for the mechanism - a layer of dark fondant (it's just off black, made with a combination of Sugarflair's Liquorice, Dark Brown, Navy, Christmas Red and Melon gels) and a layer of gold fondant (Sugarflair's Dark Brown, Melon and Christmas Red). I worked into the gold fondant with cookie cutters, making indentations to look like cogs. I used edible gold lustre dust to help it look metallic. Then I have another layer of the dark fondant, with painted white lines and hand formed Roman Numerals. I added clock hands from white fondant, adding texture with more cutters, and set them to the time 4:04. This is a bit of a geeky joke, in this case interpreted as "age not found"! 

Wondering how I made it look glassy in the centre? A layer of acetate placed between the dark layer and the silver layer! The silver fondant is mainly made with Sugarflair's Liquorice, but with a touch of the other colours too. I wrapped the edge first and then laid the top on for a cleaner finish, and modeled the elements for the winding mechanism from fondant. I marked the patterns in using my sugar tools, and finished it all off with Antique Silver edible lustre dust! 

It may not be perfect but I am very proud of this cake :)

Minecraft Crochet || Creeper (Free Pattern)

OK, time for some background story! I have mentioned before that my husband and I used to play a lot of Minecraft. To this end, all the way back in 2011 I started a crochet series for my husband, with the plan to make each of the characters. I started by making a sheep, and I never blogged about him because I wanted to release him with all his companions and complete patterns. Yeh, I've never been well enough to do that.

Fast forward to now, and my Minecraft-obsessed nephew's birthday. I thought I'd revisit this series that I abandoned and make my nephew a crochet Creeper. Of course, husband saw him and also wanted one. I'm not well enough to carefully write and rewrite, check and recheck patterns. I'm not well enough to put together perfect photo tutorials for the fiddly sections. But I can offer you the notes I made as I went along, and hope someone finds them useful on their own Minecraft crochet adventures.

My big word of advice is polystyrene. I have tried making these characters with normal stuffing. I have tried making these characters with upholstery foam. Nothing gets them as square and well formed as cutting out sturdy polystyrene cubes and cuboids, pinning your crochet to them, and stitching round the edges. If you really cannot get hold of polystyrene, stiff cardboard panels against the crochet and filled with stuffing may work for you. This is obviously coming from the perspective of them looking right for display, rather than being super cuddly!

Pattern Notes

I use a 5mm crochet hook, and 2 strands of double knitting wool. I like the effect this gives. I use one strand of double knitting wool to stitch on the toes and the facial features, as shown at the end.

Head piece (make 6)

Chain 9. 

Row 1-9: sc 8, use a turning chain of 1.

Body front/back (i.e. make 2)

Chain 9.

Row 1-13: sc 8, use a turning chain of 1.

Body side (make 2)

Chain 5.

Row 1-13: sc 4, use a turning chain of 1.

Body end (make 1)

Chain 9.

Row 1-4: sc 8, use a turning chain of 1.

Feet front/back (make 4, 2 for each pair of feet)

Chain 9.

Row 1-7: sc 8, use a turning chain of 1.

Feet top/bottom (make 4, 2 for each pair of feet)

Chain 9.

Row 1-4: sc 8, use a turning chain of 1.

Feet sides (make 4, 2 for each pair of feet)

Chain 5.

Row 1-7: sc 4, use a turning chain of 1.

When you have made your parts, stitch on any extra details such as those shown. Pin your piece to your polystyrene shapes and simply stitch the edges together. because you have used two strands of wool this is quite forgiving. You will notice the body piece only has one end covered - the other you are attaching to the head so it is unnecessary.

Pattern copyright to Helen Morris at Creative Chaos Art. It is not to be used for commercial gains.