Artisitic Designs On Your Cookies - Page 2

Wow, thanks guys! A lot of good information there. The cookies are just so gorgeous! You guys are talented. I feel inspired.....

What is the best flooding technique? I have seen where people will shake the cookie genlty, and I have seen spreading with a spatula to even it out. Any suggestions?

I just want to say a HUGE Thank You to all of you VERY talented cookie artists for sharing some of your techniques. I have recently found my new addiction that is cookie decorating, and TracyLh and Yankegal are always part of the group that I admire. Thank you for sharing your great talent!

I outline and flood with the same consistency icing.

I go around my cookie then quickly fill it in touching my outline to blend it in.

Then I give it a little shimmy shake and Voila done and usually no line.

Consistency is the real key to making this work.

This is what works for me.

I use one thickness of icing...not too thick, not too thin. I outline the edges of the cookie (using a #4 tip for large areas, #2 for small) and then immediately fill in the area with more icing in a zig zag pattern. I then use a tapered, offset spatula to smooth out the icing. Once the icing is set, I go back with thickened icing to do the final outlines (if the design calls for it).

cookiemookie and geminiRJ, could you describe what the consistency of the icing is that you use?

I would compare it to Elmers Glue(white school glue).

Ditto that! Maybe even a tad thicker.

I describe the flooding consistency as pancake batter like.
You can also use the 10 second rule. Drizzle a line of icing in a little circle on wax paper and count the seconds until it "settles" into itself. 10 seconds is the ideal time, I find, for perfect flooding consistency. Does that make sense?

Ditto what Yankeegal says! I was trying to post that same 10 second timing info, but my computer wouldn't play. (LOVE computers! I lost use of my keyboard yesterday for several hours! Tragedy - no way to post comments on the cute new cookies! ) I mix my color, let my RI settle in the bowl, then run a spoonful of it above and see how long it takes to settle in. 10 seconds is perfect for flooding and I use about 7 seconds for outlining on top once it is dry or if I need a firmer border before I flood right away with the 10 second RI. I do love it when the stars align and I can use the same consistency for both. That's a happy day!

Also, (side note only if it helps), I fill one bag for flooding with thinner RI and a larger tip (or a #45 for flooding large areas) and close it with a plain rubber band. I then fill another with the thicker RI and a #2 or #3 tip for outlining and close it with a colored rubber band. Even if it is the same consistency RI, I like having one bag with the colored rubber band to show me which has the correct tip for outlining without having to look at the tips all the time. This way it makes it really easy to keep track of which is which and having two bags saves me time in the long run from taking tips on and off.

Oh, I don't know if you have heard this tip before, but use tall glasses (I like pub style) to hold your RI bags in as you are working. You put a bit of slightly damp paper towel in the bottom and it will keep your tip from drying out and RI from oozing out as well.

Tracy, I love the idea of two colors of rubber bands!
I seem to be too uncoordinated to get the rubberbands on well so I bought those silly Wilton purple rubberbands with the funny end on them (hard to put into words)
I looked at them for so long in the store, thinking 'I'm not going to spend money on those'
I finally caved, and I LOVE THEM. it's just one of those dumb things
but I wish they came in different colors!!!!

Jenwhitlock, I use those purple bands too and I love them, what I do to mark the different bags is before I fill the bag I write on the outside of the bag with marker what I filled with and the tip #. I also find it really handy to put the empty bag in a tall glass to put the icing in the bag without try to have to hold too many things.

Thanks, Jen! I was really worried everyone would think I was a little weird for doing that! I just find it makes things faster for me. Before I had colored rubberbands, I would use wider rubberbands for my thicker RI and thinner rubber bands for my thinner RI or divide up accordingly if it was just a matter of tip size. I just buy the cheap pack of rubber bands from Staples.

Amisfud - great idea with the marker!

Oh, here is another one of my favorite things to do if someone hasn't heard of it. I dread the chore of washing pastry bags. Not fun. (Yes, I use disposable, but I still wash them. I can't see just throwing them out). What helps me is to make an 'icing insert'. I played around with the idea a bit with small ziplock bags with so-so success, but then saw a better form of it posted here on CC. You basically take a rectangular piece of cling wrap and lay it out flat. Put your RI in the center, somewhat towards one end, but not too close. Now fold one of the long ends over onto the other, enveloping the icing. Now take that extra on the long side and pull it over, so you are mimicing the shape of your pastry bag (a 'V'). Make sure there is a big enough opening for your RI to come out, but not to big - just a bit smaller than the actual bag. Now that you have that 'V' and the edges are wrapped around to cover the crease, drop your icing insert into a pastry bag that is standing up in a glass (pull the sides down over the glass to make it easier). Twist the extra cling wrap into a knot. Twist your pastry bag and seal as you normally do. Once you are done, pull out that insert and you will find you have much less icing to left inside to contend with. This has made my life a lot easier!!!

my Wilton instructor used to do that.
I do it sometimes, but mostly I'm lazy.

when I found it most useful is when I do two colors of BC.
(e.g. my fireman cupcakes)
I usually put these instructions in my response to the requests I get for the fire/water templates.

Oh, this is too funny! I just started to make my icing inserts for balloon cookies and realized I needed to say that once you fold it over, to cup your hand and push it into a cone shape before wrapping the remaining cling wrap around.. but, Jen covered it already! Thanks for watching my back, Jen! (sometimes I think we have some kind of brain meld!)

Okay, you took it one step further with the two color idea! How cool is that???!!! I love how we all share ideas! It is so fun to learn something new!

Well, back to cookie-ing!