Tuesday, April 16, 2013

How to make a cookie cutter

Here lately, I have had a ton of orders for cookies. I think cookies are starting to replace the cupcake fad. Personally, I am more of a cake person and always associate cookies with Christmas. I always loved decorating Christmas cookies, but have only recently started using royal icing and "flooding" my cookies. It's REALLY time consuming, but the results are awesome!

Unfortunately, cookie cutters are not that easy to find around these parts. Your basic shapes are, but sometimes you even have to search for those. I looked into ordering some online, but the shipping for one cookie cutter was more than the cutter itself! Anyways, I had made a couple of fondant cutters a few years back and decided to google a way to make cookie cutters. I found a YouTube video of a girl who made them out of the disposable foil pans. I already had a few of them at home that I was supposed to use for a craft project so I didn't even need to leave the house to go get supplies :) Here is a little tutorial on how I made them:

Here are the foil cookie sheets. I'm not even sure what the real name is for them. You can cut them with craft scissors. They are heavier than foil, but not too heavy to cut.
I used a ruler to bend the foil over about an inch. I folded it twice so that my cutter had three layers of foil.
Here is the cutter formed into an circle and the ends are taped together with scotch tape ( I know, kinda ghetto). I think you can use a special glue, but I was in a hurry and knew that I probably wouldn't need these to last me a lifetime.
Here is the fun part. I did a very quick sketch of the truck shape that I wanted and then formed the circle of foil into the shape and taped it together. One thing to keep in mind is that these cookie cutters are flimsy. They are not as sturdy as the ones that you buy. If the shapes I needed were easy to find, I wasn't so short on time, and they didn't cost an arm and a leg to ship, I would choose to buy them. Bought ones are easier to use and they have a more clean cut.
Here are three shapes I made for recent orders. One benefit of making them is that you can make them big. I feel like if I am selling cookies I want them to be BIG and worth the cost.
 
As you can tell, the edges aren't all that smooth but you can't tell once they are decorated. Here they are all "prettified"...

 


5 comments:

  1. Hi Tricia! This is Merrily Boyd (used to be Strickland)...I have been keeping up with your blog and am SO impressed with all of your designs! The cookie cutter tip is awesome--I sell some ceramics items in my etsy shop and was just thinking yesterday how I needed some open cookie cutters for cutting shapes of clay (the ones with one side closed in don't work for pushing the shapes out)...so this is really helpful! Just wanted to say thank you for this post (and I look forward to seeing more of your amazing creations!). --Merrily :)

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    1. Thanks Merrily!! I am so glad the tip will help you out. Let me know if you have any questions when making yours. I miss working with clay!!

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  2. Hi Tricia-I have been following your blog too! Such a great idea, I am going to pin it!!! Love all your cakes & cookies!! You are soooo talented! --Tracey

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    1. Hi Tracy - Thanks for following my blog and for the sweet comments!

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  3. This is a GREAT idea. I teach 3rd grade in SC and I needed a cookie cutter in the shape of our state. Of course, all the cookie cutters I need are too small. I can't wait to head out to the Dollar Store and make some cookie cutters. Since we only do the project once a year - I don't care if they are flimsy.

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