Homemade Art
Want to do some fun homemade crafts? Here are some recipes for different kinds of Clay dough:
Homemade Clay Dough
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 tsp. oil
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup warm water
food coloring
Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together, add the food coloring last. Stir ingredients over medium heat until smooth. Remove from the pan and knead the dough until it's blended and smooth. When it's cooled, store the dough in an airtight container or a sealed plastic bag.
Clay Dough #2
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbs. powdered alum
1 tsp. oil
1 cup boiling water
food coloring
Directions:
Combine flour, sugar, and alum. Add oil and water. Stir the mixture until it's cool and then knead in the food coloring. When it's cooled, store the dough in an airtight container or a sealed plastic bag.
Air Dry Salt Dough
Making your own homemade salt dough is fun! Get out your rolling pin and your cookie cutters and don't forget your imagination to create one-of-a-kind salt dough ornaments.
There are several variations to making salt dough. Some say it is like making a pie crust — find a recipe you like and stick to it or you can figure out your own recipe. To get you started, here's a basic salt dough recipe we like.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 cup cold water
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix table salt and flour together. Gradually add 1/2 cup of water and mix to desired consistency. Knead the dough on a flat surface, adding a few more drops of water as needed (but don't make it too moist).
Once the dough is made, divide it up into smaller portions and roll them into 1/8" thick pieces with a rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to cut out a variety of shapes, and place the shapes on wax paper or a smooth surface to dry. If you want to make hanging ornaments, you need to poke a hole through the ornament with a toothpick while it's wet.
Allow the shapes to dry for a day or two, turning them over every once in awhile so that they dry quicker. You may need to re-poke the hole several times during the drying process. After the shapes dry, you can use a fine grit sandpaper to gently smooth any rough edges.
Baking Alternative
Instead of allowing the dough shapes to air dry, you can bake them in the oven at 200 degrees F until hard. Baking times vary depending on your oven and how thick you made your dough. Make sure the dough is completely baked. You can cover the dough with aluminum foil if it starts to darken before it is completely baked through.
Salt Dough Suggestions and Tips
You can store salt dough in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a day or two before using.
If you want to color your salt dough, you need to add food coloring or paint into the water before adding it to the flour/salt mix. Otherwise, you can paint the finished baked dough with acrylic paint.
Painted objects should be sealed on all sides with polyurethane spray or clear varnish to make them lasting gifts or keepsakes.