The secret keepers

Don't let this cupcake fool you. It's not just a regular polymer clay cupcake.


It actually opens up as a locket! Here's the story behind these curious little things...

After creating the cupcake locket tutorial earlier this year, another idea hit me. Why not create an entire cupcake out of the locket, instead of just attaching a cameo-like piece onto it?

Incidentally, I chanced upon this devastatingly cute cupcake lipgloss set a few weeks later in Rustan's. It hit me: I could make the locket open up just like this! Frosting and sprinkles separated from the base by the locket itself.

Photo from amazon.com

But like so many of my ideas, this one had to take a back seat as I struggled to finish the 1001 projects on my to-do list.

A few months later, one of my students from my Ultimate Miniature Food class submitted this lovely project:

Dessert locket by Paulina Dex

Isn't it amazing? Ack. I was reminded by the project I had yet to accomplish.

Finally, I was able to put my idea to the test a few days ago:


I made the base flatter than I normally would when making cupcakes, just so the locket can lie flat on the chest when worn. This hasn't been glazed yet. I love how it looks like a cookie instead of a cupcake, teehee.

I was so excited by what I had just made, and was going to post it on flickr, when... Eeeeeek! I found this:


This was made by etsy seller magicbeanbuyer. It's terribly cute, but more importantly, she has been making these years ahead of me.

I am a big advocate of originality, so I wanted to differentiate my work from what is already out there. So last night, I went back to the old drawing board and tweaked my idea.

And that's how these new cupcake lockets were born. They're still a work in progress, but I will get there.