Salt Dough Crafts is an inexpensive way to make lots of fun gifts and decorations for Christmas and Yule and especially fun for all the family including the kids at any time of year, adults too can make some beautiful collectable gifts from salt dough.
Basic Salt Dough Recipe:
3 cups of salt
1 cup plain flour
Mix the salt and flour together in a large bowl.
Add water to mix into a dough, don't make it too wet, you want a dough that you can mould and wet dough takes forever to bake in the oven.
Once you have a nice flexible dough ball, knead it well to take out any air bubbles. Air bubbles trapped in the dough will expand and split when baking.
This will take at least 20 minutes.
Now you are ready to mould and roll the dough into shapes and cut out to make plaques etc
Top tip: bake salt dough straight onto wood, for example if you are making a hanging plaque you buy wooden blanks in craft shops, the dough will be stuck fast after baking, no need for glue!
Bake your dough on baking parchment in a very low oven to prevent burning, once completely dry the dough can be painted and varnished or left natural and varnished.
The varnish will protect the dough from absorbing moisture. You can use a matt or gloss finish varnish, whatever you prefer.
Salt dough onjects will last for years if varnished and dried properly, if they do become soft over time pop them in the airing cupboard or on top of a radiator for a few days and hey presto they will be rock hard again! Don't re-bake varnished items in the oven because of fumes
I used to sell salt dough gifts and always used yacht varnish, several coats of this and ten years later my salt dough gifts are still hanging on friends and familys walls!
Have FUN!
Mix the salt and flour together in a large bowl.
Add water to mix into a dough, don't make it too wet, you want a dough that you can mould and wet dough takes forever to bake in the oven.
Once you have a nice flexible dough ball, knead it well to take out any air bubbles. Air bubbles trapped in the dough will expand and split when baking.
This will take at least 20 minutes.
Now you are ready to mould and roll the dough into shapes and cut out to make plaques etc
Top tip: bake salt dough straight onto wood, for example if you are making a hanging plaque you buy wooden blanks in craft shops, the dough will be stuck fast after baking, no need for glue!
Bake your dough on baking parchment in a very low oven to prevent burning, once completely dry the dough can be painted and varnished or left natural and varnished.
The varnish will protect the dough from absorbing moisture. You can use a matt or gloss finish varnish, whatever you prefer.
Salt dough onjects will last for years if varnished and dried properly, if they do become soft over time pop them in the airing cupboard or on top of a radiator for a few days and hey presto they will be rock hard again! Don't re-bake varnished items in the oven because of fumes
Remember to use paper clips pushed into soft dough to make hooks, these will harden when baked and keep the hooks in place. You can also use looped wire to create hooks, purchased from craft shops.
For the kids some simple shapes may include biscuit cutters in the shape of stars, moons, they can mould snowmen, christmas trees, cut out angels to hang on the tree, imagination is all you need.
I used to sell salt dough gifts and always used yacht varnish, several coats of this and ten years later my salt dough gifts are still hanging on friends and familys walls!
Have FUN!
Remember to use paper clips pushed into soft dough to make hooks, these will harden when baked and keep the hooks in place. You can also use looped wire to create hooks, purchased from craft shops.
For the kids some simple shapes may include biscuit cutters in the shape of stars, moons, they can mould snowmen, christmas trees, cut out angels to hang on the tree, imagination is all you need.
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