八宝蜜饯

Our last project for Chinese New Year - "八宝蜜饯" (an idea from Tao Shu Series). It is essentially a set of 8 different sorts of preserved and heavily sugared fruit. Each one has been named auspiciously for Chinese New Year. Here are the 8 preserved treasures - "冬瓜糖" (甜蜜蜜), "椰子" (团圆 - 有爷爷有孙子), "金桔" (吉利), "龙眼" (富贵圆满), "莲藕" (年年都有), "莲子" (多子). "花生" (长寿) and "红瓜子" (喜悦). And we made a set using Playdoh, glitter sand and baby talc powder.

We started making two days ago, but we did not continue after making "冬瓜糖" and "椰子". In reality, both are coated with sugar, so I tried to use glitter sand for the same effect. It was a pity also that I did not have a lot of white and we had to pretty much ration it to go around.

Sophie was too obsessed with the glitter sand to pay attention to my instructions. Thus, we ended the craft, pretty angry with each other. Today,we tried again. We used light brown for "莲藕". Again, I wish I could make the slices thicker but I did not have enough Playdoh.

We needed some light brown for making "花生" which I thought Sophie did a good job. They looked quite realistic.

I did not have black Playdoh and my brown is running out so I left the red as it was for "红瓜子". I think of all the 8, I am the least satisfied with this. Sophie, of course, has no issue with the colour. She does not even know what they are (regardless of my explanation and pictures).

"莲子" was the easiest to make I think. I mixed a little yellow with the pathetic amount of white we had left. Then Sophie coated each small ball of Playdoh with baby talc powder. It gave them a much more realistic appearance.

The rest "金桔" and "龙眼" were made mainly by me because Sophie lost interest. She was still keen on playing with them but not making them. She figured that it would be much more fun to let me do the dirty work.