AboutShasta McLaughlin Expertise I can answer many questions about the art and craft show industry. I can help with booth setup, advertising and marketing, increasing sales at shows, where to find shows, how to promote an art or craft show, and much more.
Experience I have always been an artist/craft person since I was a child selling crafts at shows with my mom. I have also promoted several craft shows, and publish a newsletter for artists and crafters.
Publications EzineArticles.com
Education/Credentials Salutatorian of my graduating class. Associates degree of Graphic Design.
Question I am a photographer and I want to use christmas cookies with milk so I can do a cookies with Santa photo. Is there any way that I can coat my cookies with something to preserve them so I can use them over and over again. I was wondering what varnish would do to them. Also, how can I make a fake glass of milk? If I have to I could make fake cookies, but I don't know how. I hope someone can help me, I think this will be a very cute picture for a christmas card. Thank you, Joyce
Answer Joyce,
I would suggest baking or buying some real cookies for inspiration and for comparison photographs as I'm a trial and error kind of person. Take the cookies or the photos to the craft store and home improvement store with you so you can show the associate the look you are trying to achieve.
Personally I would make things simple and use a real glass of milk as it can be photographed and when you are finished drink the milk and wash the glass. Be careful not to spill unless you're going for that look, smile.
If you're taking pictures with children the glass of milk could add a really dynamic element. They could actually be drinking it (if they aren't allergic to milk), you could do the milk mustache thing, or real cookies could be dunked in it to create less staged photos. Cookies and milk make happy kids and happy kids make easy photographs.
For fake milk you might want to buy a glass at a second hand store and clay that doesn't dry as real milk would look different in a glass on the table or being poured. Fill the glass with white clay. Then you can mold the clay to the different look you want.
Another option for a glass of milk that never changes is to buy a glass at a second hand store. At the craft store ask for a 2 part resin kit and opaque white resin dye. Mix the resin and the dye together according to the directions on the packages and pour into the glass, let dry as long as needed. This will form white plastic the shape of the glass inside the glass. I wouldn't expect it to ever come out.
For fake cookies I would go to the craft store and get either an air dry or oven dry polymer clay and attempt to fashion fake cookies.
There are all kinds of clays in many colors which you can mix to make thousands more colors. Use a rolling pin and real cookie cutters to help get the desired effects and mix colors to get more realistic colors.
Also try different things to mimic the textures of cookies like pressing a wadded up piece of paper into the clay to give it the rougher texture like chocolate chip cookies have. Press a fork into the top for snicker doodles or peanut butter cookies. I would even try mixing a small amount of clay and dry oatmeal to see what happened. If it worked I would be delighted and if it didn't I would figure I hadn't lost too much.
Odd things like caulk, spackle, or even elmers glue could be mixed with liquid food coloring and used to mimic frosting. All of which could also serve to glue on your sprinkles.
You could use glitter to resemble sprinkles or you could buy one of those bottles that contains many different kinds of sprinkles. I would only use real sprinkles with air dry clay though as sprinkles might melt in a warm oven.
Try different things till you find what you like and don't be afraid to show an associate just what you're trying to achieve and ask for their ideas. If they know their products what they come up with may surprise you.
Good luck and let me know what you decide and how it works at xxshasta@extravaganzacrafts.comxx (remove the xx).
