How to Create Beautiful Salt Dough Ornaments ⋆ SomeTyme Place (2024)

FAQs

What can I decorate salt dough with? ›

Simple salt dough gets a splashy treatment with this DIY salt dough ornament project. All you'll need for this craft is acrylic paint and glitter. Tie with golden twine for added pizzazz.

How do I preserve and store these Salt Dough Ornaments? In order to keep your ornaments and use them for several years, it is best to seal them. Painting them with acrylic paint, if you choose to, will begin the process. But a coat of Mod Podge or Acrylic sealer that is applied like a spray paint will be needed.

If you preserve salt dough properly, it will last for decades. Without sealant, it will begin to crumble after a few weeks.

Having fun painting the salt dough crafts - Poster paint works best on salt dough! After the salt dough creations have cooled down, you and your little ones can enjoy the fun bit of painting the creations. Poster paint works best.

You could use acrylic paint, or even markers to decorate these ornaments. If you want your ornaments to last years and years, coat them with 3-4 very thin coats of polyurethane gloss varnish. Make sure to cover every exposed surface.

Make your own naturally-dyed salt dough with just a few simple ingredients. You can add different colours to your dough using natural dyes from grass, flower petals, fruits or even charcoal. Don't be afraid to experiment with this and have fun. Experimenting with dough is an amazing activity to calm and focus the mind.

Make sure your oven is set to 150°f. This is SUPER IMPORTANT. I have seen others use hotter temperatures but I haven't been able to do so without getting puffiness. So, plain all-purpose flour, 150ºf oven and 1/4 inch thickness = no puffy ornaments.

Use Mod Podge (in matte) to seal the dough and give them a more finished look.

Place them in the pre-heated oven and bake until ornaments have hardened, about 2 hours depending on how thick your dough is. Baking time will vary depending on thickness of dough. Let ornaments cool completely and then paint them.

If you overcook them, they tend to bubble up.

Does salt dough clay mold? ›

Does salt dough go moldy? Not if properly dried and stored. A high proportion of salt to flour will dehydrate and preserve your ornaments wonderfully. The drying process matters for the final result: it has to be quick and thoughtful.

Leave for as long as you can – overnight is ideal. If you don't want to use the oven, leave your salt dough creations out to dry for a couple of days. a string or ribbon through the hole to hang your decorations. Make decorations or ornaments and practise measuring and using ratios.

Before baking the ornaments, press rubber stamps into the dough with holiday greetings, the year or even the names of loved ones. If you like to pay attention to every little detail, a fine-point marker is the perfect tool for the job (we like to use Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers).

Try to get the dough to an even thickness before baking so the ornaments bake evenly. Bake for the time indicated and then longer if your ornaments still feel soft. They should be firm to the touch without much give but do not need to be rock hard.

Another way to incorporate glitter in your salt dough recipe is by adding acrylic chalk paint that contains glitter or shimmer to your water, and then mixing that into the flour and salt when you prepare your dough.

My favorite to use on the baking soda clay and salt dough ornaments are these dual tip brush markers ! You can also use regular markers like these or color Sharpies. The glue and cornstarch dough dries differently to form a more water resistant surface.

Mod Podge.

It's important to seal your ornaments once they're dried, so that they don't absorb moisture from the air. Use Mod Podge (in matte) to seal the dough and give them a more finished look.

You can use the dough to cut out festive shapes or cut into circles and imprint your kids hand or foot prints. You can even decorate them any way you would like including adding food coloring, adding sprinkles before baking or painting with tempura washable paint after baking.