When my cousins come to down from the "left" coast, it's time to break out the grill and have a family reunion/cookout. Many times when we have these, we have games and prizes donated by various family members. A few years ago, I made a music box that contained a miniature scene of a parlor with miniature pictures of our parents and grandparents. My cousins put their names in for a drawing and one cousin took home my miniature scene. The winner was my cousin Gail from Portland OR.

The first project I tackled for my miniature cookout scene was the picnic table. I started out using directions from "The Family Picnic" by Joann Swanson in the Miniature Collector (August 2008). I cut the pieces and then realized each set of legs of the table were cut in one piece. This wasn't how I wanted to make my picnic table.

So, out came my past miniature magazine issues. Time to search for the perfect picnic table. In the August 2004 issue of Dollhouse Miniatures, I found an article on making a picnic scene. Using directions from both articles, I was able to make the picnic table pictured above.

NEXT: Tablecloth, Paper plates and cups, and the grill. Yes... I am going to make a grill.

I have two choices of tablecloth for the picnic table. The one I like best is the checkered cloth pictured on the left. The second choice, is the cloth with stars. It seems to be more of a Patriotic/Fourth of July type cloth. Since our reunion cookout will be after the 4th, I think the checkered cloth would fit nicely.

You can't have a cookout or a picnic without paper plates. After all, who would want to wash dishes for a reunion? So, time to make some miniature paper plates. I used a 3/4" circle scrapbooking punch to cut out each plate. I still have choices to make about which color of plates and cups. We still have a red, white, and blue color scheme. Anyway, after cutting the circles, I used a dowel piece that was smaller than the circle and using my hand to crimp the plates.

On to the Grill!

I found a really good grill to make in the May 2006 issue of American Miniaturist. The only problem with this grill is that is it round. The grill used at our family cookouts is long. The grill is a charcoal grill/smoker.

I used two Wilton squeeze bottles (used to make candy) as the barrel and lid for the cooker. I cut off the top of each 3 inches from the base and cut along the bottles seam line. I glued them so each half would form the end of the grill. I did the same with the second bottle to form the lid.

After gluing the bottom and top of the grill, I added legs and a shelf at the bottom. The legs are made from wooden skewers. I used my scissors to start the holes and then uing the sharp end of the skewers, I pushed the legs into the grill. I cut the pointed ends off as well as the extra length. Using plastic canvas, I cut a square out to form a hole for the legs and to make a shelf.

Next I used plastic canvas to make the grate to hold the charcoal. And used a plastic bendable drinking straw to make the smoke stack on the lid of the grill. To attach the lid to the grill, I had to use miniature angle molding, gluing one side to the barrell and the other side to the lid. I still have to resolve a weight issue as the back of the grill is heavy and wants to tip over backwards. I plan to add a wooden shelf to the fron of the grill, hoping that will balance things. UPDATE: Adding the shlf and gluing the grilling tools on it did help to balance the grill.

Making the charcoal

I used Sculpy to make my charcoal briquettes. The directions were in the May 2006 issue of American Miniaturist. I followed the directions and came out with charcoal that looked pretty good. While the charcoal made in the magazine article was for the round grill, I made mine oblong to fit the shape of my grill.

I don't usually place people in my scenes. However, I didn't feel that it would be good for the cook to wander off and leave hamburgers and hot dogs cooking on a hot grill. I found this fellow in my friend's miniature shop. He doesn't look like my uncle but maye someone will see a resemblance to one of the cousins. Who knows???

Making the Food

I used the directions for making a backyard barbecue in the July/August 2003 issue of American Miniaturist for making the food. I ran into problems when it came to the colors I needed to use for my food. The directions gave the colors and proportions of each to create the colors needed. That would be great, however, the colors have changed once again. In order to find some of the colors needed, I had to resort to finding the paint colors in the painting department of my local craft store and taking those to the polymer clay section to match. I ended up using Fimo, Premo, and Sculpy to come out with the colors needed.

More Food...

In this same issue of American Miniaturist, I found the hint to make barbecue potato chips from the pepper seeds found in crushed red flakes. I glued these in a small wooden bowl I found in the craft store.

The potato salad was made from several colors of fimo cut in small pieces. I used a off white/transparent mix for the potatoes. I added yellow for egg yolk, dark green for pickles and a light trandparent green for celery. I used tacky glue mixed with a touch of white and even small bit of yellow paint to jix with the cooked fimo pieces. I found an end cap at Lowe's to use as a bowl. After filling the bottom with glue and allowing it to harden, I piled on the potato salad. To add the finishing touch, I sprinkled on some red craft sand and stuck in a spoon.

The baked beans were made from ground walnut shells mixed with tacky glue colored brownish red. Again, to finish, I stuck in a spoon.

The mustard and ketsup dispensers where given to me at the 2008 NC State Day for my 50's Diner project.

Finishing Up

I placed a can of Off on the end of the bench along with a flyswater. I have a kitchen towel pictured above, however, I didn't use it in the final project.

I made both red and blue paper plates and glued these on each side of the table with miniature forks glued between them.

Oh, I almost forgot the desserts. I made a plate of brownies from chocolate brown fimo. I used my polymer clay pasta machine to roll out the brownies to about 1/8" thickness and then cut into squares. After baking them, I used amber Gallery Glass paint to add icing. Not shown is a chocolate cream pie. After pressing fimo into a pie pan, trimming and baking, I filled the pie with filling made of acrylic gel medium and brown paint. After allowing the pie to set, I topped it off with white bathroom caulk.

I bought a red and white cooler with a lid. I mixed miniature ice with Scenic water and placed it in the cooler. I added canned drinks and glued a few pieces of ice over the cans. It doesn't show the lid in the picture above. However, I did glue it along side the back of the cooler.

I purchased a bag of ice, an ice cream freezer, and a garbage can and glued them in the scene. Oh, let's not forget the brick wall. I printed a banner saying, "Smith Family Reunion 2008" and glued it on the brick wall.

The End of my Project

We had our reunion cookout. Everyone loved my project. My cousin Randy won it. My uncle Donald, his dad, hosts our reunions. Somehow, I can bet this miniature scene will remain on display at my uncles work where we have our reunions. When I left, several family members were trying hard to talk him out of my cookout scene.

Finished picture to come later as I forgot my camera and my cousins will send me a copy.