Last November(2017) I attended an islamic pattern workshop held by Richard Henry and Adam Williamson of The Art of Islamic Pattern in Dubai. That was just a taste of a more intensive workshop that took place at the beginning of this year (2018). . . too bad I was out of town! I am still hungry and I am looking forward to the next time they will be back in Dubai.
Meanwhile I keep following their “stories” on Instagram and when recently, during one of their study trips in Granada, I watched a local artist handcutting tiles on ceramic the same way I handcut cookie dough, well it was time to make my own cookie-tiles! I wish I had Shaub’s (that was the name of the artist) amazing tools, a sort of metallic templates.
I did my “homework” and draw again and again the pattern taught by Richard Henry at the workshop, until I drew the perfect shapes of cookie-tiles using a ruler and a compass to create a sort of grid. This is an easy pattern, though not quite easy because a little mistake in drawing a circle or a constructing line could compromise the final pattern. After tracing the pattern on a sheet of baking paper I cut the templates. I needed to be as accurate as possible in this first phase on paper, because I knew that I could have lost accuracy at every passage of the next phase of the cookie making: handcutting, baking and decorating. And there wouldn’t have been any plaster to keep together my cookie-tiles or any stucco to hide imperfections between the tiles, those that you can see at the Alhambra (alicanto) in Granada, Spain, or in Fez (zellige), Morocco. The cookies spreaded a little in the oven, and some accuracy got lost while flooding those little pieces, but at the end the composition is more accurate than I expected.
Each of the 109 cookies is handcut, flooded with royal icing and handpainted with gel food colorings.
If anyone is wondering why I didn’t use a software to draw templates or why I didn’t think to order some custom made cookie cutters. . . well, the answer is very simple: because then I would have lost all the magic of drawing those patterns. I tried to transfer this magic into cookies, combining two passions.
Special thanks to cookie friend @Jo baked as I learned about this art from her. We are mutual followers on IG, and @artofislamicpattern popped up in my feed because she already followed them and had participated to their workshops.
You always make such amazing collections. I really LOVE your work, it's very inspiring and makes me think of cookies in a mind opening new way. Thank you for that. X
You always make such amazing collections. I really LOVE your work, it's very inspiring and makes me think of cookies in a mind opening new way. Thank you for that. X
109 handcut cookies! The shape of each cookie is perfect! Even after being flooded, they look perfect. You are amazing, Manu.
Thank you, @Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. Behind these cookies there is the workshop that I attended, the time spent drawing... one more memory turned into cookies 😊
What a cool design @Manu biscotti decorati. I love the various shapes and am sure that it took quite a bit of engineering on your part in the planning process to create the necessary templates for the large puzzle. The colors shout SPRING . Beautiful work, as always, with great attention to detail!! ❤️❤️
What a cool design @Manu biscotti decorati. I love the various shapes and am sure that it took quite a bit of engineering on your part in the planning process to create the necessary templates for the large puzzle. The colors shout SPRING . Beautiful work, as always, with great attention to detail!! ❤️❤️
Thank you @Cookies Fantastique. This pattern can be found in the Alhambra in Granada, or in Morocco, but also everywhere, as decoration on a floor, or a wall or a ceiling. I have learned to draw a sort of grid with a ruler and a compass after attending a workshop held here in Dubai. I needed to enlarge it though, to have the little white diamond cookies of a size big enough to be flooded.
What a cool design @Manu biscotti decorati. I love the various shapes and am sure that it took quite a bit of engineering on your part in the planning process to create the necessary templates for the large puzzle. The colors shout SPRING . Beautiful work, as always, with great attention to detail!! ❤️❤️
Thank you @Cookies Fantastique. This pattern can be found in the Alhambra in Granada, or in Morocco, but also everywhere, as decoration on a floor, or a wall or a ceiling. I have learned to draw a sort of grid with a ruler and a compass after attending a workshop held here in Dubai. I needed to enlarge it though, to have the little white diamond cookies of a size big enough to be flooded.
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