I was inspired to make these loaves of olive bread by a loaf I once bought for myself in Trieste. (It made a fantastic picnic with a hunk of cheese, an apple, and a slice of sachertorte!) For the dough, I primarily used a color mix of Fimo vanilla, Fimo Soft sahara, and translucent (a mix I’d made months ago for a project I eventually decided not to complete), plus some random dough-colored scraps left over from several recent projects. As with all my other breads, I used a toothbrush, needle tool, and crumpled aluminum foil for texture.
For the olives, I used plain Premo black polymer clay, which I rolled into tiny olive shapes. I gouged a hole in some of them with a needle tool, in order to create the appearance of sliced olives once embedded in the dough.
After pressing the olives into the surface, I shaded the bread with soft pastels for a dark brown baked effect. After baking, I applied a little TLS (translucent liquid Sculpey) to the tops of the loaves and, using a small brush, flicked on a bit of white soft pastel for “flour.”
After a second bake, I sealed the bread with Helmar Crystal Kote Matte spray varnish, so that the pastels wouldn’t rub off. Here’s a closeup of one of the loaves.
I’ve literally been working on the bread for these shelves for six months (though not every day) and am so excited that the end is in sight. I’m really looking forward to starting on some new projects.
