I told you and myself I would attempt to make ceramic cookie. Here they are. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. My six year old, Fletcher wants to eat them. These aren't my usual beads but I made them in the same way I would make a ceramic bead.
Here's a quick run down of the process. I started by rolling out a slab of clay. I cut the cookies out with cutters and smoothed the edges. I also added a little ridge so they would look like they had icing on them. After drying for about a week, I fired them in the kiln. They come out a pure white color after the firing and they are ready to be decorated. I mixed a few underglazes up to make a nice cookie brown and then used bright colored underglazes for the icing. I put a matte glaze on the icing only. These were put back in the kiln for a second firing, this ones called the glaze firing. They came out looking like cookies but they needed sprinkles. What's a Christmas cookie without them? I made the sprinkles from crushed glass rods for lampworking, some crushed seed beads, and some glass frit. I carefully sprinkled them on and put them back in the kiln. This firing was a tricky one. I wanted the glass to fuse to the glaze but I didn't want the glass to melt in. So every half hour I would open the kiln and check the sprinkles. After reaching 1350 degrees the glass had stuck! I shut off the kiln and waited for them to cool completely.
Ornament Thursday has been tons of fun. There are a group of us that just can't let go of the idea. We are in the works of a monthly craft extravaganza, so stay tuned. I will keep you posted.
Here are the other great ornaments for this wonderful and last Ornament Thursday.
Happy Holidays!
Jennifer
Here's a quick run down of the process. I started by rolling out a slab of clay. I cut the cookies out with cutters and smoothed the edges. I also added a little ridge so they would look like they had icing on them. After drying for about a week, I fired them in the kiln. They come out a pure white color after the firing and they are ready to be decorated. I mixed a few underglazes up to make a nice cookie brown and then used bright colored underglazes for the icing. I put a matte glaze on the icing only. These were put back in the kiln for a second firing, this ones called the glaze firing. They came out looking like cookies but they needed sprinkles. What's a Christmas cookie without them? I made the sprinkles from crushed glass rods for lampworking, some crushed seed beads, and some glass frit. I carefully sprinkled them on and put them back in the kiln. This firing was a tricky one. I wanted the glass to fuse to the glaze but I didn't want the glass to melt in. So every half hour I would open the kiln and check the sprinkles. After reaching 1350 degrees the glass had stuck! I shut off the kiln and waited for them to cool completely.
Ornament Thursday has been tons of fun. There are a group of us that just can't let go of the idea. We are in the works of a monthly craft extravaganza, so stay tuned. I will keep you posted.
Here are the other great ornaments for this wonderful and last Ornament Thursday.
Happy Holidays!
Jennifer
Jennifer
ReplyDeleteThese are SO YUMMY! I want to eat them too!
What a great project!
xoxo,
Margot
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteFantastic ornaments! They look so real. I can't wait to try them next year.
Cheers,
Tonya
WLW
These really do look good enough to eat - the glass frit for sprinkles is so clever!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the cookies (and I do want to take a nibble....)
ReplyDeleteKeep me posted if you all keep this going once a month. I'd love to have the motivation to keep the creativity going!
Thanks for all the great comments. I love making things that look like they could be eaten.
ReplyDeleteThe frit was a total experiment but it worked just like hoped it would. That doesn't happen very often :)
Thanks for checking in and Happy Ornament Thursday!
Jennifer
Linda,
ReplyDeleteThere are a few of us trying to figure it all out. But we defintely plan to include eveyone from Ornament Thursday in our plans. We all agree this has been a blast. The creativity is a flowin'....
Jennifer
Wow...I thought they were real cookies at first glance. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteThose are super yummy! Great idea about the frit! Thats a good way to avoid sorting my spilled seed beads, lol!
ReplyDeleteOh my, they look good enough to eat!!! Beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful. I can see why Fletcher wants to eat them...so do I. Merry Christmas! -- Kriss
ReplyDeletep.s. Love the name Fletcher!
I hope you put these in your Etsy store because I want one!
ReplyDeleteI thought they were the real thing! fun ornaments Jennifer!
ReplyDeleteSo sweet and DELICIOUS-looking!!! :-) H.
ReplyDeleteoo-oo Jennifer you did an awesome job with the ceramic cookies. I thought they were real ones! Just perfectly baked too! Love them!
ReplyDeleteI thought they were real at first. I love this idea. Those cookies are pretty sweet (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteYou know how you can tell these are ceramic? If I had baked them they would have been black on the bottom!
ReplyDeleteThank everyone for all the nice compliments. I think I am going to make some cookie ornaments up for Valentines day. I will let everyone know when they arrive.
Jennifer
Jennifer, Love the cookies! And your blog - you do great work. So inpsiring!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the upcoming book too! Merry Christmas - Debba / Girlfriendology.com
Jennifer, I thought those were real!
ReplyDelete