Creating a Mermaid Scale Texture Effect on Cookies

Mermaid Scale Texture with Glitter Tutorial 

~by Lindsay Johnson (@theflourshoppecookieco)

I love adding special details to my cookies from glitter and shine to texture and color.  So this fun technique is a great combo to add interest and fun to a cookie, perfect for a mermaid set of any kind! I used royal icing and Rose Gold Tinker Dust to create this texture.  Watch me create scales on a cookie in the video and then follow the steps below to try yourself! Then make sure to share your cookies you created using this tutorial!

Step 1: Flood your cookie with your base color and let dry.

Step 2: Choose your color combo for your scales.  I don’t worry too much about consistency for the scales.  As long as it’s not it’s not too runny, it should work! I use anything from a thicker flood to writing consistency for this. Whatever I have already made, I don’t make any frosting special for this! If you want to create bigger or thicker scales, using writing consistency or thicker is best.   

Step 3: Take your frosting and create small dots in a row along where you want your first row of scales to fall.  I do this in a random order, I don’t create any specific pattern. 

Step 4: Take the back of a freshly washed paint brush or scribe and use it to pull the bottom of your dots downward.  I don’t wipe off the color from the back of my brush between pulling down the dots.  I want my colors to melt together and become slightly variegated. 

Step 5: Create a second row of dots in random color order. I create these over the bottom portion of the pulled scales from row one.

Step 6: Pull the second row of scales with the back of your paint brush or scribe.

Step 7: Add glitter! I like to do this with brush so I have more control over where the glitter falls.  I dip my brush into the container and then tap the brush over the scales.  I don’t mind if some of the glitter falls on the surrounding cookies, but I want the majority on the scales. 

Step 8: Let dry and add additional details to your cookie!