Hey Besties! I’m so excited to be sharing a full review of the best stencil holder for cookie decorating! I ADORE stenciling since it is one of the easiest ways to add beautiful designs, patterns, lettering and other design elements. It’s also what I always recommend to new decorators as well since it is super easy to learn. For a minimal investment, it opens up a world of design possibilities. But I also know a part of the reason I love it so much is because of this stencil holder! Is it more expensive than other options? Yes. But read on to learn why I truly believe it’s worth its weight in gold!
Stenciling 101
Scraped Royal Icing
Before we get into my favorite stencil holder for cookie decorating, let’s just cover a quick 101 in case stenciling is new for you! When we talk about cookie stenciling, there are 2 main ways stencils are used. The first, it by scraping a layer of royal icing across the cookie. It’s very simple to do and gives a slightly raised or textured look and feel to the stenciled design. This is the technique most commonly used to make PYO (paint-your-own) cookies as well. You’ll see an example of this in the demo video I made for you today.
Airbrushing
The second use for stencils is by using them with an airbrush. Yes, you use the same stencil holder and stencils for both techniques. This is another reason I love stenciling; it gives you great options! Personally, I usually use my airbrush for stenciling when it is a pattern or an ombre effect across the entire surface of a cookie. Here are a couple examples of cookies that were airbrushed with stencils.
Silkscreen Stencils
I will also mention that for scraping royal icing, there are two different kinds of stencils that are commonly used. The first is a basic vinyl material stencil, which you will see me use in the demo video. The second type of stencil is a silkscreen stencil. In this kind, there is actually a very thin layer of mesh or silk that the icing goes through. It allows for more intricate designs and eliminates the need for ‘bridging’ in the letters that is necessary with vinyl stencils.
For example, if you think of the word ‘Baby’, a silk screen stencil has the mesh to hold any font letters to stencil the word. But a vinyl stencil has openings for the letters so the inside of the a and b letters would just be holes if there wasn’t a bridge holding the inner part of the letter. Here is an example of cookies made with silkscreen stencils. Pardon the naughty language, but we love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation around here. 🤣
The other great thing about stenciling is that you don’t need much in terms of supplies, which is why it’s an economical investment. Now, if you’re interested in airbrushing with your stencils, that is obviously a larger investment. But the scraping technique is great place to start. You’ll just need stencils (duh), a stencil holder and scrapers.
We’ll go in-depth about the stencil holder next, but for scrapers, I just use this 2-piece scraper set and it works beautifully. It has just the right amount of flex for cookie stenciling.
The Best Stencil Holder for Cookie Decorating
Alright Besties, now we’re getting to the fun part. If you’ve been here before, you know I get all giddy about sharing products I LOVE. I only recommend and share products I stand behind, love and would recommend to my besties; and this is one of them. I’m personally pretty frugal and always want to know I’m getting the best bang for my buck. I like to buy products that will last me years and I don’t have to spend more money upgrading later on. This product is one of those because it does cost more than a basic stencil holder, but it also has features that basic stencil holders don’t. And that is what makes this holder so great! Let’s dive in.
Basic Stencil Holder
Here is a basic stencil holder. THIS is very common and does exactly what it says…it holds a stencil in place. It does it’s job, it’s not rocket science! If you just need a basic stencil holder without any bells or whistles, this will do it!
Our Favorite Stencil Holder for Cookie Decorating
But here is the stencil holder we LOVE. It’s made by The Sweetest Tiers and you can find it HERE. The biggest difference between this stencil holder and the one above is the hinged design that this one offers. See, when you’re stenciling with either royal icing or airbrushing, it’s REALLY helpful to be able to lift the stencil off to view your cookie and then be able to continue working on it. This holder allows you to do just that, super easily. You’ll see in the demo video, how simple it is to check the progress of your work and continue without messing up or having to realign your design. With a regular stencil holder, you’d have to try to realign the design if you want to do more work on your cookie.
The hinged design makes stenciling SO easy and it’s not uncommon for me to check my stenciling work multiple times before I’m done stenciling a cookie. But there is also a clear flap in this design that allows you to put a trace of your cookie in it This allows you to quickly and easily be able to place your cookie exactly where you want it every time. It saves tons of time not having to realign every cookie so you can stencil them much faster.
Alright, let’s get to the fun part…seeing this baby in action! Today I’m making some cute PYO cookies for a Halloween market! You can view the video HERE!
Who Is This Stencil Holder Best For?
As I stated earlier, if you are just looking for something to hold your stencil in place and if you’re more experienced with stenciling, the basic holder should work fine for you! But if you are newer to stenciling, you’re going to find the hinged design of THIS one really helpful. Or if you’re a cookier who does a lot of stenciling, the cookie placement feature does help speed up your process. I love mine and I’d buy it ten times over. It also still looks brand new even though I’ve been using it for years.
I should also mention that The Sweetest Tiers shop actually has some other REALLY fun stenciling accessories. Several that are making their way onto my Christmas list this year! There are additional gadgets for this stencil holder, fun stencil storage books and super cute sparkly scribes too. You can see all their awesome offerings HERE.
I hope this review of one of my all-time favorite decorating tools has been helpful! When there is a product that is awesome, saves time or makes decorating easier, you better believe I’ll be letting you know! Only the best for my besties!
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