Making Food Critters or Fruit and Vegetable Sculptures

A great kid or adult summertime craft . . .

Miss Flower Fairy seems to have a very distinct personality, wouldn't you say? A bit fun loving and zany. A touch of crazy too perhaps!
(scroll down for more pictures of the food sculptures, including the butterfly)

Some tips for Newbies to food sculpture art

1. The best way to learn is to just make one!

2. Have rounded toothpicks and super glue on hand. Really: you will definitely need the toothpicks.

3. You may need to cut the toothpicks to size depending on the size of the food you are pinning together.

4. Super glue is great for gluing petals on fairies or connecting other delicate (and light weight) materials together.

5. Have a very small knife on hand for carving. I used a small knife that folded out of a pocket knife. Especially important for small features like nose, eyes, ears, etc. Which brings us to:

6. Have the right tools on hand: if you will need to be cutting, have scissors. Pretty straight forward.

7. Have fun shopping & make a list: Come up with a plan of what you are making, bring a picture along and a list of what foods might work best for various parts of your sculpture. But be open to discovering an even better idea.

8. Keep it Fun! A "mistake" may be a stroke of genius in the end. Who knows? Things always happen for a reason. Trust the process!

9. If your kid(s) will be helping you, be sure to choose a project that is easy to accomplish with their help. There are lots of simple animals you can make, or ones that you can simplify to suit kids ages and skill levels. Marina (4) was able to make a butterfly will very little help. I cut all the pieces for her and she assembled them!

10. Pick fruits and vegetables that are odd shapes, if they suit your needs. We found a yam that looked just like a duck. I cut off its "bill" and added a carrot nose that made it look more like a horse. Then I shaved off its hind end and shaped it into a horse's bum.

11. If you need a part to be strong, choose a strong food for it. I know, duh. But really important: for the horses legs I need a strong vegetable. Which ruled out most fruits anyway. I chose carrots. Perfect!


Flower Fairy Rides a Unicorn Series:

notice Miss Flower Fairy's cabbage wings and the unicorn's fennel tail.

The unicorn has a cinnamon stick horn. Miss Flower Fairy has flower petals "picked" to her carrot feet.

Black eyed peas make great eyes, for many critters!

A mildly funny shaped carrot made a great "in motion" leg

Cabbage Butterfly
The wing decorations were made using cabbage and slices of lemon and yams, and the skin of grapefruit and lemon. The body of the butterfly is a zucchini. The antennas are fennel stems, which are very flexible and were easily pinned on with toothpicks.

The butterfly artist herself!