Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Cookie Cutter Tutorial

The above little beauty is the team logo for the San Diego Chargers or who we San Diegans affectionately know as the Bolts.

Due to a couple of football party cupcake orders I have for this weekend, I'm going to be needing a few of these cut out of fondant. Instead of manually cutting them one by one, I thought it would be a good idea to use a cookie cutter. One problem: Where was I going to get a Charger Bolt cookie cutter in the size I needed?

I figured the best way to go would be DIY. Armed with incredible ingenuity and an over-inflated sense of self-confidence, my ECA and I headed to Lowe's for material ideas. We ended up buying some metal duct pipe that ran us about $3. I had the ECA borrow some tin snips from our onsite property manager and cut the piping in 1" wide strips that ran the length of the pipe (Come on, that's a man's job. I just bake cupcakes.)

Below is a step-by-step of how we made the cookie cutters:

  1. Here's the ducting with the crimped ends trimmed off (thanks baby!)
  2. One of the 1" strips.
  3. The templates/guides I used for the cookie cutters.
  4. I began by folding/bending the strip of metal around the shape of the bolt.
  5. I used my thumbs to work out as many of the wrinkles in the edges as I could.
  6. Of course, ECA couldn't let me have all the fun. He had a go at it, too.
  7. Once you're done shaping your cookie cutter, you might be left with a tail.
  8. Use the tin snips to cut it off but leave a little bit at the end to fold over and glue.
  9. Wrap the extra bit over the raw edge and use a bit of hot glue from a glue gun to seal.
  10. Ta-da! The finished products. ECA's is on the top and mine is on the bottom. It's OK, you can say his is better. It'd probably just serve to stroke his male ego. Oh fine I admit mine looks more like Sonic the Hedgehog than a Charger Bolt but COME ON, it was my first try!!
  11. Look, I made a football, too :)
I've got a bunch of strips left that I can't wait to fold into other fun shapes. Perfect activity to do in front of the TV when you're watching something like, oh, say, Willow. Not that that's what I was doing or anything. Noooo... not at all...

I'd love to see some cookie cutters that you made! If you get a chance, post a pic!

21 comments:

  1. this is so neat! thanks for sharing. You're so scrappy ;)

    xoxo

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  2. What a clever idea! Hmm... I've been wanting a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter, but for some reason, the man shape is nowhere to be found for under $12. Maybe I'll give this a try! :)

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  3. Very cool - I never would of thought of that!

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  4. Man you're cool! So glad I popped over from SITS to say hi:)

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  5. THAT WAS SO COOL I would have cutr my hand to pieces working with that tin..

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  6. How cool!!! I can't wait to try this out one day! Thanks for the inspiration. :)

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  7. How cool is that?!?!? (Saw your post on SITS and had to come see!) btw, our franchise hockey team are also the "bolts" ! Lightning bolts, that is...

    sweetjeanette.blogspot.com

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  8. Cool idea! Stopping by from SITS to say hi and check out your tutorial!

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  9. Oh wow Nicole, these are amazing. I am making my list of all the cookie cutters you can make for me...LOL!!

    So, I went to Walmart and a few other stores to find the pots for the DIY cupcake stand, and had no luck. I am thinking because its getting colder, but I did luck out and find some cute white cupcake holders at Walmart for only $5.00.

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  10. Your confidence was well founded after all! Those came out great. Now that you know you can do custom cookie cutters it really opens up a lot of possibilities for creative fondant cutting. How wonderful!

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  11. I love cookie cutters. The ones you made are really great!

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  12. Stopping by from SITS. I will definitely be following this blog! Awesome idea here. I make a lot of rolled out sugar cookies and it isn't always easy to find the cookie cutter I am looking for. I am excited to try this. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. Wow! You are fearless!!! Never would have occured to me to make my own cookie cutter!

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  14. very cool!

    I'll be feturing this post on my Sunday weekly links post. so great!

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  15. Little tip for you, if you are concerned about kids using them, and possibly cutting their hands, take your hot glue gun, and run a steady bead all the way around the edge of the top side and let it dry, to create a little grip/anti-cut edge! :)

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  16. You are so creative and ingenius! I would have sat down and pouted.

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  17. Ooo! That's an awesome idea! I can't wait until I have some free time to bake some cookies with a custom cutter!

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  18. This is so awesome! I was wanting to make some football brownies I saw but thought it would be silly to buy a football shape cutter! Now I can just make one! :)

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  19. So clever! Im glad I stumbled upon your blog. Im a new follower now! Great Blog!

    Visiting from SITS

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  20. Oh, wow! You made your own cookie cutters? Now that's impressive. Great job! I saw the fondant pieces you cut out with them on the charger cupcakes.
    ~ingrid

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