VILLAS – Losing weight is one of the top 10 New Year’s resolutions that would probably be more achievable if we were eating burgers, donuts, ribs, cakes and sandwiches that were one-tenth of their real size.
A Villas woman who found herself trying to keep busy after rupturing her bicep and retiring has discovered miniatures. She has created more than 100 little food items from polymer clay that are about one-tenth or one-twelfth their actual size.
While these miniatures may look real and edible, they are sold to dollhouse owners and other miniature collectors or displayed.
“As a child, I was always fascinated with little foods that came with Barbies,” said Linda Rapattoni. “My grandfather made me a miniature store out of wood, and I loved it. I also would buy miniature earrings and pins that looked like chocolate kisses and cheesecakes.”
After rupturing her bicep that forced retirement from working in a local real estate office, Rapattoni said she needed to find something to keep herself busy. Because she loved miniatures, she spent “hours and days researching them.”
She started making dollhouse kits but found she enjoyed making the food items more. So she branched out and taught herself how to make them using items found around the house.
“I would use the spray spout on a can of Pam to make circles,” she explained.
Each piece is made from clay, and she spends about five hours making an item. Sometimes she needs to mix colors into the clay to make them look realistic, and then she bakes and glazes them, so they are sturdy.
“When you are making a cheeseburger, for example, every item, the bun, burger, cheese, ketchup, tomato, all has to be to scale,” she noted.
“When my family sees these items, they are wondering where this skill came from,” she joked. “I’m 56 and doing these things for the first time. I think my skill came from many hours on the internet researching these creations to make my own, and it seems to come naturally.”
Her favorite item to make is a cake, while the hardest are hot dogs. “They all have to match, be alike. That can be difficult,” she noted.
Rapattoni, who grew up in Wildwood, sells and displays her items in shows, including one last October at Grand Central Station, New York City.
“There’s a whole world interested in miniatures,” she said. “I just wanted to tell my story that even when you are down and out, you can always find something to do.”
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