Tutorials & tips

Here are some tutorials and tips. Currently only one, but more will come, eventually :3

Fimo macarons

Fimo macaron tutorial
Macaron is one of the most famous French pastries. This tutorial is specificially for MSD-sized macarons but with different cutter you can also do other sizes!

You will need:
-A few hours of time, depending on how many you'll make
-Polymer clay, different colours of your choice, normal and transparent (like Fimo, Sculpey, Cernit)
-Liquid polymer clay (ex. Fimo deko gel)
-A little bit of water
-A cutter: A cap of a marker, the inner diameter about ~11 mm. Caps of copic markers are ideal size. you can also use some other round object of about the same size.
-Needle or pin
-Toothpick
-Rolling pin, it can be anything round that is NOT used with real food
-Something to work on and mix your liquids
-Something to mix your liquid with (like a plastic spoon, a wooden stick etc that you can throw away)
(-Optional: sandpaper)

Fimo macaron tutorial
First mix the colour you want. Mix in about 1/3 or a bit more of transparent fimo and 2/3 of normal fimo. The transparent fimo can be any colour, for example, if you're making pink macarons you can mix in either red or white transparent, or both. Remember, transparent colours turn darker/stronger in the oven, so mix a lighter/flatter colour than you actually want! You can first test with a small piece that how does it change in the oven.

Fimo macaron tutorial
When the colour is well mixed, roll a ball and then roll out flat and even. I used deodorant bottle, it works just fine ;D

Fimo macaron tutorial
The thickness should be around 2mm, I noticed 1,9mm was the best.

Fimo macaron tutorial
Now is the time to take your cutter. I used the cap of a copic marker, its inner diameter is about 11m. It's better if the cutter is not very sharp, since we want to make a bit round and rough edges. Sharp cutter is okay too, it just means you have more work afterwards.

Fimo macaron tutorial
Cut out the halves of the macarons with the cap/cutter. Because we want the edges to be a bit round, it's better to cut when the clay is still warm and pliable. This just means that do the cutting after the mixing and rolling, and don't leave it for an hour or in the fridge in between. After cutting, roll a ball again, roll out and repeat until you don't have any clay left or you have done the amount of halves you want. Remember to make an even number of halves! Don't get too ambitious with the number, you'll regret it in the next phase ;)

Fimo macaron tutorial
Don't push the cap too strongly through the clay. If you push too much, it will stick to the cap and if you push too little, it will not cut through the clay. Ideal would be that it would come (almost) completely off but not stuck to the cap. It's okay if the edges are rough, this will just make the next phase a bit easier.

Fimo macaron tutorial
However, it's not dangerous even if it does get stuck to the cap, then just separate it carefully with the side of a toothpick.

Fimo macaron tutorial
If it doesn't come completely off, you can separate the rest of the way with a toothpick. Don't leave any excess clay on the side, cut it all off, a bit of rough is okay, but excess clay makes the next phase a bit difficult.

Fimo macaron tutorial
Now to the next phase. Do a small crease to all halves with the side of a tootpick. Keep the piece carefully in your hand so that you don't squash the shape...

Fimo macaron tutorial
The crease should be about 1/3 - 1/2 away from the edge.

Fimo macaron tutorial
Then take a pin / needle. Rough up the edges with the pin doing very small round motion. This video helps to see what kind of motion works the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_QcAGAPsGo. You can also cheat a bit and use some other motion to do this phase faster, but with this motion it looks the best. This is also the phase where you should re-shape the half if you want/need to. You can for example make the top edges rounder etc. After this put the halves on a bakery paper.

Fimo macaron tutorial
After all the halves are ready, put them to an oven for 3-4 min (Fimo 110C / 230F) so that they harden a little bit.

I forgot to take a picture of this phase, I'll add it the next time I do something like this. Anyway: now you have to mix the filling. First mix the colour from the clay you want the filling to be. Spread it on the surface/pot where you're gonna mix the filling. This is quite messy and you'll have to throw the mixing surface away because it's extremely difficult to clean after what you're going to do next. Also, be prepared that whatever you're mixing with might break because at the beginnig the mixture is quite sticky and thick.

Start by putting a few droplets of water on the fimo, and start mixing. Add some liquid clay (like Fimo deko gel) and more water. Mix patiently and add the water slowly. The mixing will take some time. If there's a lot of water in the mixture, it doesn't stick on surfaces well, the liquid clay makes it stickier. You can also only mix the liquid and normal clay and not use water at all, but because the liquid clay is quite expensive, I prefer this method. Don't make the mixture too fluid. Here's a video that will help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTA9ThPjwbE (She uses hand cream/lotion (?) instead of liquid clay, I'm not sure how well it works but you can try ^o^)

Fimo macaron tutorial
Put a bit of the mixture/filling on the other half of the macaron. You learn the best amount by trying. If you have a bit of nail it'll help you keep the macaron steady in your hand.

Fimo macaron tutorial
Then push the other side on the place. Do this carefully so that the filling spreads out nicely. You might have to add a bit more filling or take a bit out if there's too much. It looks the best if you succeed putting the right amount on the first time.

Fimo macaron tutorial
You can make different coloured fillings to different macarons. After you've put the filling in all of them, put them to the oven again for 5-6 min, enough for the filling to harden but not too long. The clay (at least fimo) will darken if you keep it too long. Wait them to cool off, you can fasten this by dropping them to lukewarm/cold water. If your macarons have fingerprints that bother, you can sand them off with a sandpaper.

Fimo macaron tutorial
Ta-dah! Now you're ready to serve your macarons!

I hope someone found this tutorial useful ^o^ If you have questions just ask and if you have better/alternative ideas how to do something, please tell!