It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I’ve been busy crafting handmade gift tags and Christmas tree decorations – and I wanted to share the idea.
The ornaments – a great way to add a personal touch to a gift, or to a friend’s tree – are made from salt dough; a simple mix of salt, flour and water (recipe below).
It’s so cheap and easy to make salt dough ornaments – and the results can make lovely keepsakes.
How to make salt dough
You’ll need:
- 225g flour
- 112g salt
- 100ml water
Mix the flour and salt before gradually adding in the water until the dough is smooth (a bit like a biscuit dough), but not at all sticky. We used a mixer as it’s much faster, but you can use a bowl and wooden spoon too. Optional: add in food colouring to make the dough a particular shade.
Roll out the dough until it’s about a centimetre thick, before using cutters to create shapes. We used festive-shaped cutters including snowmen, gingerbread men, hearts and circles, but you can use any you like.
Pierce a hole in the top of the shape if you’d like for it to be strung up later, and consider imprinting designs – a baby’s hand or foot print, or an initial or a name using alphabet cutters – before leaving to set. You could even push some sequins or beads into the shapes if you like.
Transfer the shapes onto parchment paper and let them air dry for about 5 days in a warm room (we stuck them in the boiler room). The result is that the dough will be hardened and ready to paint.
You could immediately pop the shapes into the oven for about 3 hours at the lowest setting if you’re in a hurry. Wait until they cool before painting with acrylic paint. We used Sharpie pens to add minor details as well.
Once the paint is dry, smother the ornaments in PVA glue to finish (add glitter, sequins or beads at this stage, if you want) and once dry, string up and use as gift tags or hand out as Christmas tree decorations. Find lots more fantastic ideas on salt dough crafting, shapes and designs on Pinterest here.
Merry craftmas!
You may also be interested in:
Getting into the Christmas spirit at Camden’s Tea & Crafting
A therapeutic evening of craft and creativity at Homemade London
/// The Curious Londoner 