A recent guest post on one of our favorite blogs, Dos Family, had us scrambling to find all of the doilies that we could. Using just sugar and water, these lovely holiday decorations are something that even the novice DIY-er can make successfully.
Emmy of ennui contributed this lovely decorating idea to Dos Family last week. Here is a recap of her easy instructions:
First, find a variety of doilies at vintage stores, flea markets or your grandmother's house.
Next, you will need to create a mixture of sugar water in order to make them stiff. Add a few drops of water to sugar and boil for a minute or two, but watch carefully so that the sugar doesn't burn.
Let the mixture cool and then dunk the doilies in the sugar water. Remove from the mixture, squeeze out the excess and then lay the doilies flat on wax paper to dry. A few hours later, you will have some snowflakes worthy of a winter wonderland.
(Image credits: Emmy of ennui)
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How much sugar to how much water?
I've made snowflakes and used diluted white glue to stiffen. With the sugar solution, I would worry insects or mice might get into your ornament storage and cause a lot of destruction (unless you plan to wash them before storing).
I second aaakid's proposal. Sugar water sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Also, if you do use it, make sure it is cool before you touch it because it can lead to some nasty burns.
Might starch do the same thing without being as sticky?
Sugar might soften up in a bright, sunny window, too.
As a kid we would use Aqua Net hairspray. When it wasn't available, we would hang doilies as is- we just used double sided tape on 4 spots, to avoid sagging. The sugar water seem to be a bit much.
The good thing about the sugar mixture is that it washes out (starch will, too). There are some recipes for sugar stiffeners online, and discussions of which type of stiffener is better, on different craft sites.
love this idea! I've been hunting for some pretty doilies like these but haven't had luck yet.
I saw a version of this, where the doilies were actually frozen in water (in plastic lids) and hung outside in the cold. Very pretty effect.