Henna-Inspired

I was really excited to do this challenge. I think I changed my mind on design 3 times before I stuck with this one. I've always liked henna tattoos and they remind me of my Zentangle doodles. Lots of lines dots and patterns. 

I chose to keep my colors minimal and chose black and white so my designs would stand out. I flooded and lined with the same consistency icing. I tried several techniques but found that counterclockwise starting at the bottom closest to me worked best. I also made sure my arms wernt resting on anything. I found if i kept my arms off the table i was able to move around in a circle more steadily.

I did however discover during this challenge that different sized cookies require a certain order to flood. This began my issues. Everything went smoothly until I started on the larger round cookies. I flood from the inside out after I line and then gently smoosh the icing to the line. This did not work for the larger cookies that took longer to flood due to size. I ended up with a line that looked awful. 

My design allowed me to cover my flooding problems but my icing for some reason battled me the whole time decorating. It started to seperate sooner than previously and so I had a lot of air and I think moisture in my parchment bag. I ended up with so much pitting and air bubbles I nearly quit and was going to start over next week. I decided to keep them since I have a promotion test coming up and should really reign in on the cookies for the next 2 weeks. 

I do want to try these again in the future. I really like how the designs are so versatile and no one cookie has to be the same. I only started decorating cookies this last Christmas so I'll take this lesson and grow from here.

Beautiful and so intricate! Lovely job!

They look great! Despite all the troubles you said you had with the icing, you really can't see it.

You only started at Christmas and you are already producing these beauties? Go for it girl, you are very good at it! Congratulations.❤

Pretty!

Heather Bruce Sosa posted:

You only started at Christmas and you are already producing these beauties? Go for it girl, you are very good at it! Congratulations.❤

Thank you so much. 

This is a wonderful addition to the challenge! From the photo, I cannot see any problems with the flooding of the larger circles, although, in my experience, it is definitely more difficult to flood larger cookies, no matter what the shape. My icing always seems to start crusting over before I can finish flooding, especially in the wintertime! I love your intricate and unique henna-inspired designs. These are so lovely and versatile, I hope we see some more of this style from you in the future.  For someone who has not been decorating cookies for very long, you are doing a fabulous job!

Amazing designs!! Love how you took on this challenge with the various sizes of circles and the varying designs in the color scheme you selected . Beautiful work ❤️

Magnolia Artisan Cookie Co. posted:

Beautiful and so intricate! Lovely job!

Thank you

Julia M. Usher posted:

They look great! Despite all the troubles you said you had with the icing, you really can't see it.

Thank you Julia. I really have fallen in love with this new art form and couldn't have gotten such a good start without your YouTube chanel.  

carouselselsel posted:

Pretty!

Thank you so much.

Bakerloo Station posted:

This is a wonderful addition to the challenge! From the photo, I cannot see any problems with the flooding of the larger circles, although, in my experience, it is definitely more difficult to flood larger cookies, no matter what the shape. My icing always seems to start crusting over before I can finish flooding, especially in the wintertime! I love your intricate and unique henna-inspired designs. These are so lovely and versatile, I hope we see some more of this style from you in the future.  For someone who has not been decorating cookies for very long, you are doing a fabulous job!

Thank you Bakerloo for the encouraging words. This is deffinatly a hobby I will continue for a long time.

Cookies Fantastique by Carol posted:

Amazing designs!! Love how you took on this challenge with the various sizes of circles and the varying designs in the color scheme you selected . Beautiful work ❤️

I definitely learned a lot in this challenge and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Thank you 

Kyra posted:

Julia M. Usher posted:

They look great! Despite all the troubles you said you had with the icing, you really can't see it.

Thank you Julia. I really have fallen in love with this new art form and couldn't have gotten such a good start without your YouTube chanel.  

So great to hear this! Keep on with the beautiful decorating!