Salt Dough Ornaments
Salt dough ornaments are an easy and sustainable way to decorate for the holidays.
What you’ll need:
2 cups Flour
1 cup Salt
1 cup Water
Large Mixing Bowl
Spatula
Rolling Pin
Cookie Cutters
Chopstick or other poking type tool to make the hole so you can hang your ornament
Baking Sheet
Paint, stones, dried, flowers, etc to decorate with.
String to hang your ornament with
Step 1. Make the dough
In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt together until well combined. Add in the water a little at a time making sure the water is mixed in thoroughly before adding more. Mix until your dough starts to form a ball. Turn onto a floured surface and knead for 10 min (if you have a stand mixer the kneading hook attachment should work for this, I haven’t tried it yet though so don’t hold me to it). Let the dough rest for 20 min. I recommend enjoying a nice beverage while you wait.
Step 2. Cut out your shape
On a floured surface roll out the dough to your desired thickness. Using cookie cutters or a knife cut out your ornament shapes. Use the end of a chopstick to poke a hole for where you want to string your ornament for hanging. A metal straw would work well for cutting out the hole but it can be a pain to clean out.
In my experiments with salt dough I’ve found that it takes an imprint well but doesn’t sculpt very easily. Try using stamps or leaves to imprint fun patterns, press dried flowers or a stone from a walk you took with someone special into the dough, there’s no right or wrong here. The fun is in trying new things.
Step 3: Bake it
Move your ornaments to a baking sheet and bake at 250℉ for 2 hours. Remove from oven and let cool.
Step 4: Decorate
Embellish your ornaments as you please, I like to use embroidery floss or yarn to hang my ornaments but you use whatever makes you happy.
Give your finished ornaments as gifts, add them as a little extra pizazz to a bow when wrapping presents, make garlands to string above your fireplace. The options are endless!