How many of you craft in your kitchens?

For the past year and a half, my kitchen table has been home to my Halloweentown dollhouse. Good thing I don't generally use it to eat on. . .

But there's something about the kitchen. Maybe it's my Italian heritage, maybe it's my Southern upbringing, but the kitchen has been the heart of any home I've lived in and the place everyone gravitated to socialize. It's the warmest room in the house - even when the oven's off!

I'd be curious to know just how many cumulative hours in a lifetime are spent there?

When drawing up the plans for a re-do of his house, a friend of mine declared that he spent so much time in his kitchen that it was going to be the main focus for the open design. And it was: a granite countertop bar holding a sink on the kitchen side and tall stools facing the higher counter on the living area side. He could easily cook and talk to guests at the same time.

I've spent many happy childhood hours at the kitchen table working on one craft or another. Clay was a threat to my mother's carpet (and cleaning ability) so I was confined to the kitchen table. She still has a china cup in her cupboard with tiny clay animals I made while still in my young single digit years.

In the photo you can see my first mini food sculpting efforts, late single digit/early double digit era. As you can see, I had a predilection for breakfast food even then. I was mighty proud of that first pancake stack with its little pat of melty butter. It's still Dad's favorite, too.

All those pieces were made from the original old gray Sculpey clay and painted with acrylic paints, except for the braided bread, two toast slices and the two out-of-scale pea pods. Those are made from an attempt at making bread dough clay from a couple slices of bread and glue and glycerin. I can't believe they've survived all these years - including a couple mice invasions - unscathed.

I was also pretty proud of the mushroom pizza (yeah, just in case you can't see that well, it's supposed to be white mushrooms on a pepperoni pizza). The potatoes, although also a bit out of scale, also weren't bad, I got good with the painting portion. But the head of Romaine lettuce was a bit off and the carrots, while innovative in the use of air fern for greens, were waaaay out of scale.

Sadly, they are all still better than my current attempts at mini food! And not so much for the sculpting ability but for my baking inability. I have a clay oven, with thermometer, hover over it like an anxious vulture and STILL manage to scorch pieces to cinders.

In acknowledgement to my volunteer fire department I'm going to start baking things outside. . .

And buy more clay.

May your kitchens always be filled with good food and crafting (not smoke!) this month and any other!

Editor