"Filigree," although a very familiar-looking design, was an unknown word to me until a few months ago. I discovered Sweet Ambs cookie art, and well, wow. She makes some of the most detailed, ornate, and elaborate designs ever, and almost always finishes them with a little airbrushing and gold luster dust. Knowing how much time it takes me to complete much simpler designs, I wonder how many hours she spends...
really, it's impressive.
Well, I had admired one of her designs awhile back. They were her interpretation of a set of mugs from Anthropologie (now no longer sold in the store). So beautiful...the colors, the design, and yes, the filigree.
After some trial-and-(lots of)-error, I decided to cut way back on the details of the design, focusing instead on a few key elements. I also scaled back on the number of color combinations I was using and added some mini flowers to the platter. This was the end result.
She does almost everything with a wet-on-wet technique. The difficult thing about this decorating style is that all the colors need to be pre-mixed and ready to go. Also, the margin for error is much less, since it's all blending and drying together in one flat, cohesive design. That means the filigree design has to be created in one fell swoop. But, if you are new to this technique and watch her tutorial, she makes it look so easy.
Much too easy (it's super-tricky!!).
You know, I was up for the challenge, though. Always good to try new things, right?
And, since I had no clue how I would fare, I didn't even have a real occasion for which to make these. I ended up bringing them to a family picnic. They were all eaten, but perhaps a bit fancy for that get-together.
It's hard to rationalize that no matter how long the cookie takes to decorate or how intricate the design, they could be a total "failure," and still taste yummy.
But then...what's the fun in that? :)
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