After planning this project for over a year, my gelato is finally finished! Back row: amarena (cherry), pistacchio (pistachio), limone (lemon), fragola (strawberry), albicocca (apricot). Front row: nocciola (hazelnut), cioccolato (chocolate), stracciatella (chocolate chip), kiwi (kiwi, obviously), and frutti di bosco (mixed berry).
My first step was mixing the colors, and I made over 60 test chips in the process of getting each one just right. I added translucent polymer clay to each color, and much of the decision-making involved determining the exact ratio, as well as whether to use Premo translucent or Premo white translucent. It turns out that white translucent was best for limone, amarena, and stracciatella, while regular translucent was best for all the rest. I also found that I needed to add a good bit of TLS (Translucent Liquid Sculpey) to each color so that it would be soft enough to sculpt.
Then there were the mix-ins, such as black sand for the kiwi and frutti di bosco seeds and red sand for the strawberry seeds. For the stracciatella, I baked some dark brown clay, then added both chopped up bits and grated shavings to my white clay mix.
I made the swirls in the ice cream with a rounded wax-carving tool. To rough up the surface in the rear where the ice cream has been scooped out, I used both a needle tool and a toothbrush. I inserted the spatula and flavor label in order to make the holes, but removed them prior to baking. While the plastic in the sign probably wouldn’t bake well, the spatula would have been fine. But I was concerned about the white clay handle darkening if baked too many times or for too long. Initially I had expected to have to glue both back in after baking, but I found that wasn’t necessary. They’re pretty secure without glue.
I made three different components for toppings: cherries, pistachios, and hazelnuts. The cherries were simply tiny balls of reddish-black clay. The pistachios were made with a Skinner blend of two shades of green plus ecru, rolled into a bull’s eye cane, reduced, and rolled into tiny ovals. I dusted them with brown soft pastels before baking and sliced them in half after baking. I’m most proud of the microscopic hazelnuts. First, I made balls from a mix of ecru, white, and translucent, indenting them with a tiny ball tool so that they’d look like halved nuts. After baking, I painted the centers with various shades of brown acrylic paint.
For the liquid toppings, I mixed soft pastels into TLS, dark brown for the stracciatella and two shades of dark pink for the amarena. I left the chocolate topping as is (TLS bakes to a matte finish) but gave the cherry sauce a glossy varnish after baking.
I’d be happy to share my color recipes, or any other details, if anyone is interested in learning more.
Once I had finally finished all ten, I was so excited to place them in the case. It was then that I realized that I hadn’t taken into account what a tight fit the metal trays are. They do fit, but just barely, and they need to overlap every so slightly. However, my gelato spilled onto the lip of the trays a bit too much to allow this to happen. So I spent an entire afternoon sanding the sides of the clay down until they would fit inside the case. I was really frustrated and annoyed with myself for poor planning, but in the end, I was extremely relieved that disaster was averted!
