Decorating

CookieCrazieBasics: Decorating With Glaze - Layering Details

After knowing how to outline and flood
your cookie with glaze icing,
it is time to layer all
the fun details.




 Unless you are doing wet on wet technique
(adding polka dots, lines, etc 
to a wet icing base
that will sink in and be level 
with the base icing)
you will have to be very
patient with glaze icing.

In order to get dimension,
texture....and the 3D look,
you have to add layers in steps,
allowing for dry time between each layer.

The amount of dry time depends on 
what kind of detail it is,
what color your adding on top
of another color, etc.

Anytime you add dark contast 
colored icing to lighter icing,
(i.e. black, red, navy)
you will need extra dry time.
And if it is black against light colors,
drying overnight is a good idea.

Here's some examples of layering details.

Adding basic stitch lines to hearts
(Note: I let these hearts dry overnight
with their base coat
before adding the stitches.)


 Baby Onesie details....


Flower details.....


When doing lettering details,
I suggest using a #1 tip to outline them.
Notice the paw on the left,
I used a #2 tip....
but the one on the right, 
I used a #1.
There was a dramatic difference in the results.



And finally,
the more detailed the cookie,
the more layers (and time!) required.

These lamb faces took several steps
and lots of drying time.
But they were worth it,
don't you think?







For other CookieCrazie Basics:

CookieCrazieBasics: Decorate With Glaze - Outline & Flood

FINALLY it's time to DECORATE!

The most basic part of decorating sugar cookies is the base coat.

It is just a matter of outlining the shape and then adding the icing to cover everything within the outline (flood).

In the photos above, I used my typical sized tips for outline and flood.

I generally outline with a #2 round tip and then flood with a #4 round tip.

However....there are times when it is best to outline with a #1.5 tip in order to achieve a more precise form.

 

To learn how to layer details on the cookie once the outline and flood are in place, go to
Decorating With Glaze - Layering Details

For the CookieCrazie glaze recipe and lots of tips about it, go HERE
For coloring glaze icing, go HERE
For bagging glaze icing, go HERE

Happy Decorating!

Decorating With Glaze......Part 3

I've already gone over the basics of decorating with glaze icing......follow the links to see decorating with glaze Part 1 and Part 2.

I did another step by step pictorial to show you how I decorated a birthday present cookie.


This was the birthday set I did for my son, Keith, last month. I used the amazingly delicious Sugarbakers’ Chocolate Mini-Chip Cookies that Callye (SweetSugarBelle) shared on her blog. 

More of Keith's birthday cookies.......


Back to house cleaning today.......I'm trying to have a good attitude. :) I've prayed about remembering that I have this beautiful house to take care of.....it is such a pleasant place to work without a ton of stress. (Working at the hospital, I definitely know what stress looks like in a job!) And also, once it is clean, I will feel so much better. :)

Happy Wednesday to you!

P.S. On the right side bar, I've just added a handy list of links to all the tutorials and informational posts I've done.

Decorating With Glaze......Part 2

In order to plan different base colors on a cookie, I use thin white icing as my "grid" or "map". I will pipe white in order to divide up the cookie or place a certain shape in a certain place. The reason this works is because all other colors will "take over" white (bleed into).....so you rarely have to worry about the white showing later.

In this case, I wanted to put a pattern in the middle of my winter glove.....so first I outlined the pattern area with white.


Next I added the darker color for the rest of the glove and let it dry. 

Next is the another darker color to fill in the rest of the glove. Since my purple was dry, I added the lines at the base of the glove too.

And once all of the darker colors were adequately dry (probably 15-30 min......it would have been more if it was red or black).....I added my white middle with a pattern.


 This is NOT my favorite cookie.....by the way.....but it was the one I started taking pics of from the beginning.....so it was all I had. : /

 Whenever I want to use white as the main background.....but also want to have some darker colors touching it.....I put the darker colors in first to dry before adding the white.



Detailing with glaze takes lots of patience. Since you're not going to get texture with it, you have to force texture by layering. That takes time. In actual time, it might only take me just a few minutes to decorate a cookie......but if it has lots of detail.....it can take me an hour or more to finish it with all the added drying time.

For these birthday cakes.....I wanted the layers to look distinct, so I piped the bottom and top layers first, then.....you guessed it.....let them dry. :) This drying time would only be 5-10 min since it's purpose is to make a more defined look in the layers. (By the way.....I do not time the drying of icing....I'm just guessing at the amounts. ;) Usually.....I pipe the first part and go on to several other cookies and then come back to the second part later. Definitely no clock watching there.)

Then I added the middle layer and the candles.  Finally I'll add the stripes on the candles and the flame.



I hope to do more pictorials of decorating in the near future.

Just a reminder......tonight at midnight (CST) is the deadline for the January Ecrandal blog give-away. I hope to announce the five winners tomorrow!
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