Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenna Bennett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jenna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
When I was on disability from my teaching job, I was looking for a hobby to fill my time at home. I found an online class for decorating sugar cookies. While I had always been terrible at baking, for some reason sugar cookies just clicked! Those first cookies looked awful, but I took a couple more classes and improved my skills. With cookie decorating, there really isn’t a way to speed up the learning process. Aside from taking classes to learn new skills, you still have to put in long hours to practice those skills. I think the most important skill in decorated sugar cookies is learning and mastering royal icing consistencies. The biggest obstacle that stands in the way of learning more is time. The more you practice the better you will become!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I am a former Special Education teacher turned stay at home mom and cookie artist. For all kinds of occasions, I create custom sets of decorated sugar cookies to give your events the perfect finishing touch. Starting from scratch, I make a deliciously soft sugar cookie dough. Then I select the perfect shapes (sometimes making my own cookie cutters) to cut out and bake as the canvases for the set. Then I hand make and color royal icing to match your theme perfectly. I then gather inspiration and design a cohesive set. Last, I hand decorate each cookie over several hours using several techniques including hand lettering, wet on wet icing, florals, airbrushing, metallics, and so much more! I love taking new classes and attending CookieCon where I won second place in the mystery shape contest in my first year. I’ve made cookies for a wide variety of people, businesses, and occasions, including cookies to hand out to the US House of Representatives. I love getting to see pictures and videos of my cookies alongside the perfect party decor and clients enjoying my hard work!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Artists and creatives are usually undervalued by society. In a world of convenience, artists can be overlooked as not as legitimate or their products not as high quality. If the general population could see the time and effort it takes to create a piece of art by hand, the value of our art might increase. I encourage people to always look to small businesses first for their purchases. This will help to create a thriving creative ecosystem. Sharing an artist’s work can also make all the difference. Even if you’re not looking to make a purchase, someone in your social circle might be!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
What keeps me going as an artist is getting great feedback from my clients. I love when I get pictures or videos from a client’s party where my cookies were the perfect addition and everyone enjoyed them. I also love the creative process of taking inspiration from the client and designing a cohesive set of cookies that brings so much joy to the recipient!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.jennacaitcookies.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/Jennacaitcookies
- Facebook: Facebook.com/JennaCaitCookies