Salt dough is a miracle. The fact that you can make this dough so easily and then use it to make any shaped and sized creation you like blows my mind.
I rustled up some dough a few days ago, then cut out some simple Christmassy shapes, cooked, painted and varnished them et voila! Some lovely, homely decorations!
To make your own salt dough decorations you will need:
- plain flour
- water
- salt
- mixing bowl
- rolling pin
- baking tray
- greaseproof paper
- a selection of cookie cutters
- skewer/kebab stick
- acrylic paint, poster paint or spray paint
- varnish
- paint brush
- thread (for hanging them)
- Simply mix 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water in a bowl, and then knead on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes (this makes it nice and smooth). Let the dough rest on the side for 20 minutes before rolling it out.
- Roll out the dough to the thickness of a pound coin (or the thickness you require) and cut out the shapes using your chosen selection of cookie cutters, remembering to make a hole at the top of each shape with a skewer before they go into the oven.
- Place the shapes on a baking try lined with greaseproof paper and cook in an oven no hotter than 80-90 degrees C (200F/Gas Mark ¼) - this cool oven will dry out the decorations rather than actually cook them - for about 3-4 hours. Or they can dry at room temperature, but that takes about 30 hours!
4. I used gold spray paint to colour my decorations after using a normal white emulsion as a base layer. This gave the gold a stronger effect. With adequate drying in between each layer, I then painted letters to spell out festive words on a few decorations in black acrylic paint, in order to make a few little garlands.
5. Last but not least came a layer of everyday varnish to seal the salt dough and make them last longer, threading some thread through the holes, and adorning the christmas tree with them!
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