As you know I am always looking for new ways of creating textures and embellishments. Baking and cake decorating tools make wonderful clay tools too! You may know of my love for embossed rolling pins and the wide range of texture they have. Well, recently I discovered fondant cutters. They are similar to cookie cutters except they have a built in plunger that pushes the clay out of the cutter. This eliminates the need for a release agent to get the clay out of the plastic cutter. You can find them in a wide array of designs, sizes, shapes and motifs. Here are just a few ways that I use fondant cutters in my studio.
What to Make with Fondant Cutters
Like cookie cutters you cause them to make jewelry, buttons or small embellishments. Here are a pair of earrings I made using two different sized fondant cutters. I just cut out my shapes from a slab of Laguna 16 porcelain, slipped and scored them together. I inserted ni-chrome wire into the earrings when the clay was still soft. Then once it was glazed and fired I attached the ear wires. A very simple and easy way to make cute, stylish earrings! You can also make pendants, bracelets and pins the same way.
Earrings are not the only thing you can do with fondant cutters. My favorite way to use them is to create many little embellishments to add on to other pieces. Here I use them add more texture and design to a large window box style planter. I just cut them out, slip, score and attach them to the planter.
Another way to use them is to create layers of shapes and build up the surface like I have done on this flower brick. Here is a helpful hint when you are going to be attaching many pieces. First make all of you flowers or cut outs and put them in a small plastic container or wrap them in plastic. This will prevent them drying out before you can attach them to your form.
When attaching multiple small things you want to be sure to let them dry slowly and evenly. I cover my pieces with thin plastic and let them dry for about a week. Checking on them daily to make sure they don’t dry out to fast.
I found my fondant cutters on Amazon. Here is the exact set I use. There are many more styles and options but this is a great starter set to introduce you to fondant cutters. Try them out I think you will like them!
