Holiday Craft Project: Salt Dough Ornaments
A wonderful project to do with friends and family for the Christmas season is to make decorative Christmas tree ornaments. These salt dough ornaments are easy and can be made into any shape your heart desires! Not only that, they will become family favorites that everyone will cherish for years.
Puffy salt dough Christmas ornaments. (© Robert Schroeder)
You don’t need a lot of “dough” to decorate your tree with these ornaments. Let your imagination run wild to create these unique decorations.
Level: Easy
Time frame: Four to six hours including drying time
What you need:
- Newspapers
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water
- Mixing bowl
- Rolling pin
- Cookie cutters
- Cookie sheet
- Paintbrush
- Paperclips (optional)
- Acrylic paints
- Clear acrylic finish spray
- Cover your work area with newspapers and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the flour, salt, and water in a large bowl. Mix the ingredients well with your hands, working out any lumps that may occur, until it forms a ball. (You may want to wear gloves for this step.) If the mixture is too dry, add a few drops of water; if the mixture is too wet (slimy), add a small amount of flour.
- Now you’re ready to form your ornaments. You could roll out the ball of dough to about ¼ inch using a rolling pin and make ornaments with cookie cutters, or you could make your ornaments free-form or follow the patterns illustrated. Place the ornaments on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
- Be sure to put a hole in the ornament with the pointed end of a paintbrush to accommodate an ornament hanger. For heavier dough ornaments, you might want to press a paperclip onto the back of the ornament with the end sticking up about ¼ inch from the top to form a hanging loop. You can either cover the clip with existing dough or add some extra dough to the back.
- Bake the ornaments in a preheated oven for 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the dough’s thickness. The ornaments will be done when a slight golden-brown edge appears and they are firm to the touch. Check the ornaments occasionally so they don’t get too brown. The ornaments will puff up while cooking. Allow them to cool on a cooling rack.
- Paint your creations with acrylic paints. Spray clear acrylic finish on your ornaments to protect them and to give them a glossy appearance.
Steps to creating a teddy bear ornament. (© Melissa LeBon)
Steps to creating a Santa Claus ornament. (© Melissa LeBon)
These ornaments are not only fun to make, they make great gifts! A box of Christmas ornaments is the perfect gift for anyone but would be especially appreciated by a young couple starting out in life or a single person who has moved into a first apartment. Have fun, and happy crafting!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Great Gifts by Marilee LeBon
