dough for making Christmas decotartions

[Momma Aimee]

I have heard time and time again about making decorations, for the tree or otherwise, out of dough -- like a home made play-dough I guess.

I kinda remember DOING this in school .....

But I have no idea how to find out more data

what is the recipie?

How long before we work with it can i / do i have to make it

how do i sotre it

when we have formed our art -- do i air dry it or bake it?

can it be written on with marker after being dry / baked

can it be painted? before or after dry / baked?

(seems like our teachers sprayed our with varnish or something before we tookt hem home ??? -- I am old and don't rmember)

Can you tell me how to do it -- or point me int he right direction?

AImee

[aprildawn]

We did this over the weekend. It was really easy. I can't find the link to the recipe I used, but here's one that's close. I added some cinnamon for scent. We baked them. Cooled them. Then painted them using washable paint. When the paint dried the girls decorated them further using glitter glue pens. That dried overnight (they tend to overdo it with the glitter!). Then I strung them up on the tree with ribbon. The only mistake I made was forgetting to poke holes. I remembered after they'd been in the oven for about 30 minutes!! They're a lot prettier than I thought they would be.

Salt Dough Ornaments

2 C. flour
1 C. salt
1 C. water

Mix salt and flour. Add in half the water, then gradually add the remaining water. Knead until the dough is smooth, this can take up to 10 minutes.

For flat dough ornaments roll out the dough on baking paper. You can also be creative and make odd shapes and wreaths (takes longer to bake.) Use cookie cutters, cut-out templates, or just use your hands.

Dust dough with flour and begin to add details to the ornaments with a toothpick, popsicle stick, and knife.

Don't forget to use a straw to make a hole so you can hang the ornament.

[Momma Aimee]

how long to back

how hot

do they shrink a lot

--- thanks

i am sooooooooooooo looking forawrd to this

can the dough be made in advance and stored -- if so how?

AImee

[georgia]

moving to Arts and Crafts

[beka1977]

Here you go:

Salt Dough

[Momma Aimee]

thanks

I didn't even know about A&C

Aimee

[Momma Aimee]

Here you go:

Salt Dough

thanks

are all the recipies the same -- this one says it doesn't keep well.

1. what would that mean .. i can't make it right with my two year old, i'd have to make it nap time and then do it with him after nap, or make it the night before and do it in the morning ... thoughts?

2. are there others that keep better?

do you think this dough could be used to make like hand prints -- then baked after the child creats the decoration .... vs just cute out, baked then decorated ......

I was hopeing to make decoration our of the dough ... not have my two year old anywhere near paint

AImee

[MamaB2C]

Originally Posted by aprildawn

2 C. flour
1 C. salt
1 C. water

That's the recipe I used last year with my niece. They have no smell at all, and you can bake them for however long it takes for them to be hardened. I think I baked them at 325 for an hour or so for the flat ones and longer for the coil wreath and coil twisted candy cane I made. We just used plain old non-toxic craft paint on them, and you can use shellac or polyurethane if you're so inclined to make them shiny. You can also use food coloring in the dough if you'd rather not paint them.

This year we plan to try cinnamon dough ornaments. They smell nice and look kinda like gingerbread when you're done, so no need to paint if you want them to look like cookies

[Sydnee]

That's the one we used to, and I have half of the dough sitting in my fridge to do some more tomorrow! I too forgot to poke the holes in the top!!

[aprildawn]

I baked mine for about an hour at 325. They didn't shrink at all. They came out really hard like rocks, and the paint took to them well. It didn't absorb into the dough or anything like that.

We didn't use varnish or shellac. But, one of our glitter glues was a clear glue with tiny shimmery glitter in it. I squeezed too much of it onto one of the ornaments I was decorating, so I spread it out all over the whole ornament. It dried really shiny and shimmery. Very pretty if I do say so myself.

I don't know if they'll hold up year after year. My main objective was to even out our tree. All the breakable ornaments are up high where they can't be touched leaving the bottom of the tree with just a few plastic, wooden, or fabric ornaments. We made some out of dough to hang down low. If they break, no one cuts their feet up, they have no sentimental value (yet), and we can always make more.

[beachbaby]

I like this recipe because it uses the air dry method. I added a few big shakes of cinnamon to make it smell good. I made it with my 2 year old and she had a ball! She decorated with crayons and stickers.


clay recipe for 'cookie' ornaments
from 'Feed Me I'm Yours' by Vicki Lansky

(overnight drying methods)

Mix: 2 C. salt
2/3 C. water

Stir and boil.

Add: 1 C. cornstarch
1/2 C. cold water

Stir. If it doesn't get thick, set back on the stove. Use extra cornstarch on table and rolling pin. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Use straw for making hole at top for hanging. Dry and decorate. Use paint, glitter, etc. Remember, these are not edible!

[spring978]

I have salt dough ornamants that are almost 20years old. we just baked and painted

[celestialdreamer]

We made the salt dough ornaments listed above. We are planning on painting them right after lunch today. I'm going to make some cinnamon dough gingerbread men too, but probably mostly as gifts. The salt dough ornaments came out nice and hard and they were even easy enough for my 3 1/2 yo dd to help make. It was a really fun project. We are trying to put just homemade ornaments on our tree this year and then our few special ornaments are being hung on the knobs of a big cabinet in the living room. I don't want to worry about the cat knocking off ornaments or the kids touching cheap Made in China ornaments. So most of ours will be salt dough and dried citrus fruit this year.

[Momma Aimee]

This year we plan to try cinnamon dough ornaments. They smell nice and look kinda like gingerbread when you're done, so no need to paint if you want them to look like cookies

recipie?



Aimee

[MamaB2C]

This link has 5 different recipes. I plan to use the one that has the ingredients found in my kitchen on whatever day we decide to make them (I used to be such a planner. Having a child has changed my brain somehow)

http://www.make-stuff.com/projects/c...ornaments.html

Most of the ones I have found use applesauce...I have no idea why applesauce works :

[Momma Aimee]

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

ginerbread people -- decorated with white paint to look like iceing --

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

WOW

such excellent ideas

THANKS

A

[Linzie2]

I came here looking for a recipe, but also did a little googling!

I found and am going to try the Salt Dough recipe.

I also found a Cinnamon Dough recipe. I did these with a friend last year. The recipe is:
one cup cinnamon
one cup applesauce
1Tbsp. white glue

Roll out, use cookie cutters and let dry for 24 hours.

Also found another recipe that was basically the same except added one Tbsp each cloves, nutmeg, allspice and ginger. I think I'll try that one. I think you may need to adjust the applesauce for consistency.

I'll come back and post pics tomorrow after they're done!

[LaughingHyena]

You can make the salt dough a while before you need it, just make sure it's in an airtight container so it doesnt dry out.. I've done it the day before and it was fine. It just doesn't keep weeks and weeks like homemade playdough would.

I bake in a very low oven (100 C) as I find the creations stay flatter, in a hotter oven they can bubble up a bit. Mine took ages to dry, 6 - 8 hours depending on the sizes. I don't find that they shrink at all.

I let DD paint them with washable (ish ) paints. Since she rubbed the paint over the surface so much the tops of some got a little sticky so I popped them back in the oven to really make sure they were dried out.

You can use markers to color the baked dough but I don't find they show up that well. We did some snowmen which DD painted white the used a marker to draw on the face and they worked well.

We also did stars which we painted and then added glitter glue.

[Momma Aimee]

do the decorations sitck to the cookie try? do you need to put anyting on the tray ... foil? or what?

I am soooooooooooo excited

[Linzie2]

Here's our creations from tonight:

Salt dough trees I added a ton of food coloring to the water before mixing it into the salt/flour. I plan on dressing these up with some glitter and probably sealing them with a clear varnish...I think just plain white glue works good.

Cinnamon dough trees These are making the house smell great! I loved the ideas of dressing them up with white icing but DD already wants to eat them, don't need to give her any extra ideas!