Project Fleur-de-Lis: Not the Flower; The School Logo
The Ask
I only had one question when a client asked if I could paint 7 dozen fleur-de-lis cookies: Do you mean the flower or the symbol?
Turns out this client was sourcing cookies for attendees at a 3-day education conference in the suburbs of Chicago and the Fleur-de-Lis Symbol is the school logo.
Since the symbol is based on the flower, and florals are my thing, I was excited at the chance to design something adjacent to my specialty.
Behind the Scenes
This design was interesting because being a symbol, there’s no movement inherently built into design like there can be with flowers.
I started with understanding the brush strokes required for a fleur-de-lis symbol and learning the order to paint the lines to get the look I wanted. One thing top of mind was to ensuring this design didn’t fall flat.
Fleur-de-Lis Symbol practice painting on paper
To help bring some movement and dimension I used the white of the icing as a natural highlight within the symbol.
First dozen painted, six dozen more to go.
Since the school colors are blue and gold, I added some accents with a darker blue and edible gold to further the dimension of the design.
Because I was painting a symbol instead of a flower, I had to be careful with the placement and size of each brushstroke.
I wanted the design to be centered on each cookie. With flowers, I can adjust the placement by adding leaves. With a symbol, I really only get one attempt to make it centered.
After 2 days of prep (baking and icing), the cookies were ready paint.
Each cookie got 3 passes with the paintbrush: light blue, dark blue, then gold. Every layer getting the cookies closer to graduating from my kitchen and finding their own path into the world (or at least into the hands of educators at this particular conference.)
Painting Fleur-de-Lis symbols on cookies for an education conference
The Delivery
After four days of baking, icing, painting, and packaging, the cookies got boxed up and ready to make their debut at the conference.
The Results
The fun part about this delivery was that my client was sourcing cookies for someone else. So when these cookies were a hit at the conference, it was a win for my client just as much as it was for me.
“Cookies were a huge hit!! Thank you so much ❤️”
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