iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Hello, thanks for your message! I include ALT text during the image upload process - it should show up when you tap the images in my posts. Let me know if it's not appearing for you and I'll see if I can find out what's going wrong.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Biscuit flavour: Almond & rose (inspired by marchpane, a historical form of marzipan). Designs painted onto royal icing by hand using food colouring gels and vodka. This research is supported by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants Programme (@britishacademy.bsky.social).

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Together with historian Dr Anouska Lester, I’m trawling through documents like the ones biscuified here to show how integral tradespeople were to the early modern theatre industry. The project is titled ‘Shakespeare’s Makers’. Stay tuned for our findings!

A bullet-point list of the sources used to create this biscuit set. The text reads as follows:

The items depicted in this biscuit set include:

Top row (from left to right)
- The parish register for Saint Mary Magdalen, Milk Street (1559-1653)
- The Agas Map of London (1561)
- John Stow’s 'Survey of London' (1633)
- The Fishmongers’ Funeral Pall (c.1512-38), a richly embroidered textile piece used to adorn the coffins of members of the Fishmongers’ livery company

Bottom row (from left to right)
- An anonymous 1809 engraving depicting Cheapside c.1547
- A receipt documenting the sale of clothing to Elizabethan theatre impresario Philip Henslowe
- A portrait of Dame Barbara Stone (c.1605), wife of Sir William Stone, Clothworker
- The will of Jane Heath (1638), wife of Richard Heath, Mercer

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Elizabethan playhouses were supplied by a network of tailors, merchants & craftswomen. Their names survive in records, but little is known about their lives. I’m working on new research that brings the stories of these makers & traders centre stage. Here is the project in biscuit (cookie) form. 🍪

A photograph of eight rectangular biscuits (cookies) arranged in two rows on a square white plate. The plate is framed on all sides by a trailing vine pattern in green with pops of red. The biscuits are mostly in shades of ivory, cream, yellow, and grey, with a burst of vivid red and blue in one corner of the arrangement. Moving across the top row of biscuits from left to right, the designs include: neat lines of handwritten names in an early modern parish register; a section of a hand-drawn map from 1561 featuring St Paul’s Cathedral, with street names like ‘Carter Lane’ visible in a tiny spiky font; an extract of text from a funerary monument printed in an early modern book, ending ‘So transitory is our glory’; a section of embroidery from a funeral pall featuring metallic silver armour, crossed gold keys, and two hands holding up a crown. The biscuit designs on the bottom row include: horses prancing past shopfronts on Cheapside in the mid-sixteenth century; a receipt written in early modern secretary hand, which is difficult to read; a portrait of a stern-looking women dressed in a ruff, pearls, and sober dark clothing; swirling calligraphy and dense secretary hand featuring on a will dating from 1638.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Biscuit flavour: sea salt and brown butter All biscuits decorated by hand using royal icing food colouring gels, edible lustres, and vodka. You can find out more about the Secrets of the Thames exhibition here: www.londonmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/sec...

londonmuseum.org.uk

Secrets of the Thames

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Finally, here’s a tiny sherd of Roman Samian pottery that seems to depict a somewhat X-rated scene:

A small angular biscuit in a terracotta colour with raised lines roughly in the shape of two intwined figures. The surface of the biscuit is scratched and chipped to make it look like an ancient piece of pottery.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

A big old sherd of 17th-century delftware:

A large biscuits with jagged edges, decorated in blue and white to look like a broken piece of a delftware dish. The design features the shape of a small bird surrounded by swirling lines.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

This tiny treat replicates a gorgeous post-medieval button.

A tiny circular biscuit made to look like an aged metal button, edged with decorative white and turquoise dots.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I can’t resist the stern face of this guy, who stars on a green glass bottle seal dating from c.1700-1900.

A close-up photograph of a hand holding an oval biscuit that looks like the seal of a glass bottle. The icing is a rich, dark green colour and the design features a raised characterful face at its centre, framed by dots, dashes, and lines arranged in two concentric circles.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Here are some of my favourite biscuified finds in more detail. First, this Early Bronze Age flint arrowhead (knapped from royal icing):

A thumb and index finger hold a small biscuit that looks like a knapped flint arrowhead. The biscuit surface has a multifaceted texture in shades of grey and brown, and the light catches the uneven surface of the icing.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Some mudlarking finds survived for centuries in the muddy banks of the River Thames. Others are freshly baked tasty snacks. 🍪 This biscuit (cookie) set recreates ten of the 350+ mudlarked objects in London Museum's Secrets of the Thames exhibition. The exhibition closes on 1 March. Don’t miss it!

Laid out against a dark grey background are ten biscuits that resemble aged, chipped mudlarking finds. An oval biscuit in a rich, dark green looks like the seal of a glass bottle, and features a raised characterful face at its centre. Next to it is an unevenly shaped black biscuit with grey chips and the raised shape of a hare’s face, ears, and upper legs. There are two large biscuits with jagged edges, each decorated in blue and white to look like broken pieces of delftware plates. One features the shape of a small bird surrounded by swirling lines, the other has a series of concentric circles and curved shapes. A small biscuit with a multifaceted texture replicates a knapped flint arrowhead. Next to it are a tiny hammer-shaped biscuit in pewter with delicate cross markings, and a very small gold biscuit button etched with lines, circles, and a rough star shape. The smallest biscuit is made to look like a yellow glass cufflink with decorative circles in blue, white, and red. Another small biscuit has the appearance of an aged metal button edged with decorative white and turquoise dots. Finally, there is a small angular biscuit in a terracotta colour with raised lines roughly in the shape of two intwined figures.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

The designs biscuified above can all be found in the William De Morgan Tile Library at Wightwick Manor ‪(@nationaltrust.org.uk & @demorganfoundation.bsky.social‬). Biscuit flavour: orange, cardamom & vanilla. All biscuits painted, piped, and glazed by hand.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

William De Morgan was the Arts & Crafts movement’s most brilliant and prolific ceramic artist. This biscuit (cookie) set is inspired by some of his many tile designs. 🍪

Nine square biscuits arranged into a square to look like a panel of old tiles. The biscuit set features an array of designs in shades of blue, green, red, and cream. On the top row, there are: a striking blue deer with purple-red spots; a symmetrical leafy design with a vivid blue flower at the centre; and a glazed relief of a lion and a lioness facing in opposite directions against a patchy rust-red background. The middle row includes: a stylised green line drawing of a galleon ship on choppy waters; two flowers on a rich blue background; and a design densely filled with small green leaves and pomegranates. The bottom row features: a monochrome design with small red leaves and flowers; a symmetrical design with spirals, leaves, and flower shapes in shades of blue; and a glazed biscuit with a Tudor rose and leaves in spruce green against a rich blue background.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Yes, that's right. It makes the food colouring gel into a paintable consistency and then evaporates. I haven't tried it on rice paper - an interesting thought!

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I’m currently on maternity leave. Biscuit-making opportunities are proving hard to come by, but I should have a couple of new sets to share soon. If you’d like to see more in the meantime: - ellahawkins.com - Instagram – @ellamchawk - Facebook – Ella Makes Cakes Happy National Biscuit Day 2025! 🍪

A mosaic of 15 small images of biscuits. Some of the biscuit sets pictured look like Elizabethan embroidery, and one is inspired by 18th-century trade cards. One square shows a close-up image of a biscuit being painted by hand.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I’ll end with some dazzlingly glorious costume design. This summery set pays homage to Alexandra Byrne’s work on the 2020 film adaptation of ‘Emma’.

8 rectangular biscuits in shades of pink, white, cream, sunshine yellow, and leaf green. Most biscuits feature floral patterns, either in stylised outline form or as swirling roses. There are some geometric shapes, too – one pattern is made up of circular shapes that look uncannily like COVID-19 under a microscope. Another biscuit is covered in a flouncy eyelet lace design.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Almost done! I couldn’t leave out this edible assortment of medieval tiles from the British Museum. The biscuit recipe was inspired by flavours from the same period: honey, ginger, and clove.

A collection of biscuits painted in shades of brown, yellow, and red. The designs are medieval depictions of people, buildings, text, and symbols. Some designs are 3D, with shields, insignia, or symmetrical patterns raised above the royal icing base. Many of the biscuits look as though they are chipped or cracked. All appear old and dirty.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Have you ever had the urge to eat a Roman mosaic? This one (the real one, not the biscuit) was found in London by MOLA archaeologists, and dates from the late 2nd to 3rd century CE.

A square biscuit decorated with tiny rough squares of royal icing, creating a mosaic effect. In the centre of the design is a four-leaf flower in shades of red, yellow, and cream. Around the edge of the design is an intertwining strand motif, in shades of red, yellow, and grey. The surface of the biscuit is dirty to create the effect of an excavated mosaic.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Things are about to get a bit ancient. I baked these biscuity sherds on a hemisphere cake tin in an attempt to recreate Ancient Greek pottery fragments in all three dimensions. The originals, dating from c.1600-435 BCE, can be found in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum.

A set of nine unevenly shaped biscuits arranged in a glass-lidded box. Each biscuit is curved and made to look like a fragent of ancient pottery. The base icing is in shades of orange, peach, and cream. Figures, swirls, repeating leaf patterns, and horses are painted onto the icing surface in black. The biscuits are aged with scratch marks and cracks.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

One more bookish set for good measure. These biscuits are inspired by the weird and wonderful world of medieval illustration.

9 square biscuits decorated with illustrations from medieval manuscripts, including Reynard the Fox, a dog, a knight fighting a snail, a peacock, a hedgehog, a bat, and a fish. The set features shades of rich russet red, cobalt blue, gold, brown, turquoise, and green. Some biscuits include small sections of blackletter calligraphy.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I always wondered how the gold detailing on book bindings gets added. One day, I happened upon a photo of all the different book binding tools in the University of Reading's Special Collections conservation workshop. Here are some of them in biscuit form.

A collection of iced biscuits designed to look like decorative book binding tools. The biscuits are all different shapes and sizes: some are triangular, designed to fit snugly in the corner of a book; others are square, oval, or diamond shaped. Most of the biscuits have a patchy dark background. The designs piped onto the biscuit surfaces feature interweaving curled lines, leaves, spirals, and decorative dots. These raised, 3D designs are painted with metallic lustre dust in different shades of gold, silver, and bronze to make the biscuits look like metal stamps. The biscuits are brushed with dark powder so they appear dirty and aged.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Let’s do a bit of literary history next. This set is inspired by early modern books in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Folger Shakespeare Library collections. Shakespeare’s First Folio makes three biscuity appearances here. Honourable mentions also to Milton and to Beaumont and Fletcher.

8 rectangular biscuits in shades of cream, red, and brown, laid out on a square white plate against a colourful bookish background. Some biscuits show details of printed pages from early modern books (an illuminated letter, an illustration, handwritten annotations). Others are based on book bindings, featuring gold details and marbling. On the top row, a figure in a feathered hat, doublet, and voluminous hose is being stabbed in the chest by a long sword.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Delftware tiles! There were hundreds of fabulous examples to choose from in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s online catalogue, but I eventually settled on nine. These 18th-century ships, shepherds, castles, figures, and flowers brought me joy. I hope they’ll do the same for you, too.

A square arrangement of 9 individual biscuit tiles painted in rich shades of blue and made to look old, chipped, and cracked. On the top row, there is: a ship with billowing sails approaching a dock with two stylized ducks or geese in the foreground; a delicate flower motif in the centre of a bright white tile with deep blue detail at each corner; a cracked tile depicting two figures in rustic historical dress looking out to sea, accompanied by a small dog. The middle row features: a roughly painted castle surrounded by an octagonal frame; an intricate floral arrangement with an angel at each of the tile’s four corners; a cluster of rustic buildings with boat sails and a flock of birds in the distance. Finally, the bottom row of biscuits includes: a figure fishing in the foreground of a multi-storey round tower; a woman wearing a flowing eighteenth-century gown, encircled by a deep blue floral pattern; a small vase of flowers in the centre of an aged white biscuit.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Most of my biscuits get eaten, but I hung on to this one. The flavour is orange, cardamom, and vanilla, and the design was painted by hand onto royal icing using food colouring gels and vodka.

A hand holds up a biscuit with uneven edges against a cloudy sky. The biscuit has an egg-yellow background decorated with strong black lines. A man with curled hair and striking eyes features in the foreground of the design. Only his eyes, eyebrows, and forehead are visible; a jagged break line at the bottom of the biscuit shows where the design would continue.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

From Arts & Crafts patterns to medieval archaeology. These biscuits recreate stained glass fragments found a few years ago in the triforium of Westminster Abbey.

A collection of biscuits made to look like stained glass window fragments. There are six larger biscuits featuring different faces: a woman looking downwards; a griffin-like creature with wings and a long neck; an old man with long facial hair; a woman with golden hair and a simple tiara; a bald man painted in monochrome; a man with curled hair and striking eyes. The larger biscuits are surrounded by a scattering of smaller fragments. There is a jewel-red fragment in a triangular shape, a small green rectangle, and a bright blue semi-circular shard painted with a leaf pattern. Other small biscuits have bold black-and-white patterns made up of lines, circles, and floral shapes. Many of the biscuits are made to look dirty and scratched.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Today is National Biscuit Day, and it’s about time that I populated this account with biscuit (cookie) sets from the past few years. Here are some of my favourites. 🧵 First up, a set inspired by the delicious designs of William Morris and John Henry Dearle.

A set of eight rectangular cookies arranged on a square white plate against a dark wooden background. Each cookie is inspired by a wallpaper design by Morris & Co. The patterns represented feature different floral and leaf shapes in shades of baby blue, soft pink, leafy green, mustard yellow, cream, and dark grey.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

All designs painted onto royal icing by hand using food colouring gels and vodka. The biscuit (cookie) flavour is based on a Victorian recipe for fig pudding. Ingredients include fig, candied peel, almond & sherry.

A hand holds a tiny biscuit decorated to look like a teacup. A band of green encircles the rim of the white cup, and the words 'With fond love for thee' are painted on its side in tiny writing.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

’Tis the season for a biscuit set inspired by Victorian scrapbooking. 🍪 These festive scraps come from two scrapbooks in the Powerhouse Collection, both thought to have been compiled by children between 1880 and 1890.

A collection of 18 biscuits of different sizes and shapes. In the centre is a large rectangular biscuit with rounded edges, painted with a snowy church scene. Flanking that biscuit are two large roses in shades of yellow and magenta. At the top corners of the set are two tiny teacups: one features spindly text that reads 'Think of me when far away', and the other says 'With fond love for thee'. The other biscuits in the set include: small butterflies in vivid shades of red, blue, yellow, and orange; leaves; a duck; a Basset hound; tiny figures in historical dress; a water mill scene; a decorative oval with a short verse titled 'Remember me'; and a bouquet adorned with a banner that reads 'Wishing you a Happy New Year'.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

A hand holds a tiny biscuit decorated to look like a teacup. A band of green encircles the rim of the cup, and the words 'With fond love for thee' are painted on its side in small writing.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Biscuit (cookie) flavour: Orange, cardamom & vanilla. The design is painted onto royal icing by hand using food colouring gels and vodka. This biscuit was created using the wonderful Special Collections & Archives at Utah State University.

Two biscuits stacked on top of one another, designed to look like a rotating diagram from an early modern astronomical book. The lower biscuit is circular and features a series of horizontal lines and tiny numbers in an early modern font. The top biscuit is roughly in the shape of boat: the 'mast' area reads 'zenith'; the main body of the shape features tiny figures in historical dress holding astronomical instruments and a Latin motto reading 'Nulla dies sine linea'. In this image, the top biscuit is rotated anticlockwise by around 100 degrees.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Centuries ago, many astronomical books included moving parts to help readers interpret the world around them. This biscuit recreates a diagram from Sacrobosco’s ‘De Sphaera’ (c.1550). It could be used to calculate the changing length of daylight hours through the year. 🍪

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