Baking of Bread

Oh, how neglectful I have been. And it's not just my blog that has been pushed aside by the more mundane aspects of daily life. The list of things needed for our Roman weekends hasn't gotten any shorter either.

I am now in panic mode, with a weekend at Archaeolink in less than 6 days and no progress made on additional items for my wardrobe or cooking practice completed. So it seems that this week I'll have to neglect everything else in an effort to prepare for Saturday and Sunday. Out will come my list, to be divided into things that can be accomplished in less than a week and the "you've got to be joking" tasks. At least today I can say I have made a start on the cooking practice. The photo below is my attempt at Hapalos Artos (Soft Bread) taken from Mark Grant's book, Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens. Although the recipe called for baking in a tin, in future I will go for a simple round version. It, at least, has a thumbs up from my son, who tested it out for lunch (before I remembered to take photos).



After reading up on Roman recipes, I think my cooking at Archaeolink will initially be a case of sticking to simple foods that can either be prepared in advance or cooked in a pot over the fire. After all, we are an army camp not a noble house in the middle of Rome.

I'll Admit It, I'm Addicted

Here we go with more polymer clay (no rolling of the eyes, please). I just can't seem to move on, but at least I've dragged myself away from the lentils to try a new technique.


This week I discovered stacker beads thanks to Carol on the 'Handmade in Scotland' Flickr group. This really cool technique came from Amy of Ovenfried Beads and after following her tutorial (link below) I made the beads pictured above. But never fear, the most exciting part was yet to come. I have been wanting to make ammonite halves ever since I realised the possibilities of polymer clay but hadn't had time to try and work out how to get the patterns. As soon as I saw this technique it all just fell into place and the results of my first attempt are pictured below.


I haven't entirely neglected my lentils this week though, as the following picture will show. Plus I managed to make my first Goddess pendants and a sneak peak of these can be seen on my Dragonflight Designs fan page. Polymer clay just seems to have gotten under my skin and I'm addicted - could it be that I have I found my ultimate craft?



Carol's shop is at http://www.folksy.com/shops/carolscrafts
Find the Stacker tutorial at http://www.ovenfriedbeads.com/stackertutorial.htm
Find my fan page at http://www.facebook.com/DragonflightDesigns