Dishfunctional Designs: salt dough

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Bright White Clay Dough Recipe

In my last post I shared a classic, easy salt dough recipe perfect for making with kids. But what if you prefer a brighter, white dough for your Christmas ornaments and gift tags? Then I have the perfect recipe for you!

This Bright White Clay Dough recipe is just what it says - white as snow and bright, and great for painting on...but be advised, the finished product is not as rock-hard as traditional salt dough. To make these ornaments stronger and more durable, make them thick.

Bright White Clay Dough

2 cups of baking soda

1 cup of cornstarch

1 cup of water

Directions

1. Combine baking soda, cornstarch, and water in a medium pot and stir over medium heat until all ingredients are dissolved.

2. Continue to stir over medium heat until the liquid begins to evaporate and the clay begins to form. It should be the consistency of peanut butter or a bit thicker. Remove from heat and transfer mixture into a mixing bowl. Be careful; the mixture will be hot!

4. Cover with a cold, damp dishcloth or a few damp paper towels and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes until it is cool enough to knead.

5. Knead dough on the countertop until soft and smooth. If the mixture is too dry, add a few drops of water at a time and knead until it reaches a softer, workable consistency.

6. Roll out the dough on parchment paper to a thickness of approximately 1/4", and cut it into shapes as desired using cookie cutters. If needed, sprinkle some cornstarch onto your rolling pin so that it doesn't stick to the dough.

7. Bake the finished creations on a parchment-covered cookie sheet in a warm oven (I do mine at 175 degrees F for about two hours, flipping them over about halfway through baking). Allow them to cool completely.

8. Once completely dry, finished creations can be painted with acrylic craft paints or stamped with inked rubber stamps. You can seal them with a craft sealant, but it's not essential.

9. Wrap unused dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate to keep it fresh. Use within 3-4 days.

Stamped Clay Dough Ornaments

1. Roll out dough to 1/4" or thicker.

2. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes.

3. Use a toothpick or straw to make a hole in each ornament so that you can hang them.

4. Stamp dough with rubber stamps - either with ink or without.

5. Bake as directed above.

6. After baking, gently file off any rough edges with a nail file or piece of sandpaper.

If you prefer, you can stamp your dough before cutting out shapes with cookie cutters instead of cutting and then stamping.

I tried it both ways, and the results were just about the same with each method. The method you use will mainly depend on what type of cookie cutter you are using.

If your cookie cutter is not open-topped, you will not be able to see the exact placement of your cut on the pre-inked dough. You waste dough if you ink-stamp and then cut because the scraps with ink are now tinted and no longer white. My advice is to use whatever method works best for you!

I use generic store-brand baking soda and cornstarch. They work great!

Combine baking soda, cornstarch, and water in a medium pot and stir over medium heat until all ingredients are dissolved.

Continue to stir over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens. It will turn from this liquid mixture (photo above)...

...to thick, sticky clay (photo below)

Once thick, immediately remove from heat and transfer mixture into a mixing bowl.

Be careful, the mixture will be hot!

Allow to cool, and then knead until a soft dough forms

The consistency of the clay should be smooth and soft

Dust the rolling pin and table or parchment paper with cornstarch, if needed. Roll to 1/4" or thicker!

Choose your weapon

Place on parchment-covered baking sheet

Keep the dough thick. If they are too thin, they could crack or bend while baking.

Try stamping a design with an inked rubber stamp. But first...

Use a moist cotton swab to wipe away excess ink from the outer edge of your rubber stamp before stamping your clay.

Make a hole in each ornament so that you have a way to hang them!

A straw works well for larger-sized ornaments. Use a toothpick for smaller ones.

Ready to go into the oven!

Make an impression with a rubber stamp

Make imprints with common items to create unique designs

This is one of my favorite necklaces. It made a great stamp!

A peace sign impression was made from my necklace pendant.

The finished, baked pieces:

What do you think?
Thanks for visiting!

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Related Post: Doily Imprint Clay Ornaments

Have a great week!
Laura

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Article copyright Laura Beth Love 2012 and may not be republished in print or other media without express written permission from the author. For any link updates or corrections, leave the correct info in the comment area.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Classic Salt Dough Ornaments Recipe

This easy salt dough recipe is perfect for making ornaments and gift tags! Not only is this recipe simple, it's also inexpensive, and you probably already have all of the ingredients right in your kitchen cabinet. Classic salt dough is the perfect afternoon project to make with your kids! I had my 8 and 10 year old daughters help with this recipe, and they were excited to craft some ornaments to give as gifts for friends and family.

Classic Salt Dough
2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of warm water
Directions
1. Mix salt, flour and water in a mixing bowl until a dough
forms.
2. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, adding additional
flour if needed, until a soft, smooth dough forms.
3. If rolling out dough with a rolling pin, do so on lightly
floured parchment paper.
4. Bake finished creations on a parchment paper covered
cookie sheet in a warm oven (I did mine at 200 degrees F for
about three hours, flipping them over about half way through
baking.)
5. Once completely dry, finished salt dough creations can be
painted with acrylic craft paints and sealed with a craft sealant.
6. Wrap unused dough in plastic wrap to keep it fresh. Use
unused dough within a few days.

Stamped Salt Dough Ornaments
1. Roll out dough on lightly floured parchment paper until dough is 1/4 thick.
2. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes.
3. Use a toothpick to make a hole in each ornament so that you have a way to hang them.
4. Stamp dough with rubber stamps - either inked or uninked.
5. Bake as directed above.
If you prefer, you can stamp your dough before cutting out shapes with cookie
cutters instead of cutting and then stamping. I tried it both ways and the results
were just about the same with each method.

Knead until a soft dough forms

I love how little hands are always so eager to help!

Wrap unused dough in plastic wrap to keep it fresh. This photo shows how much this recipe makes.

I divided it into three balls, each is the size of a large handful.

Roll out dough on lightly floured parchment paper until dough is 1/4 thick.

The dough should be completely smooth, without any crack or wrinkles. If you bake an ornament that had a crack in the dough before you baked it, the baking will shrink the dough a bit, and your finished ornament will have a actual crack, so be sure to really knead that dough until it is super-smooth. If it's too dry when you begin to knead it, add water a few drops at a time to soften the dough and make it more pliable.

Pick out some cookie cutters

Use cookie cutters to cut shapes.

I didn't even know I had this cookie cutter until my kids dumped out the bag and found

it...upside down basket? mushroom? Now it is! Awesome!

Use a toothpick to make a hole in each ornament so that you have a way to hang them!

To make a nice clean hole without marring the edge, I put the toothpick straight into the

dough and then used a circular or stirring motion to widen the hole. I made the holes about

3mm, and the reason I can give you that exact size off the top of my head is because I know my

bead sizes! We jewelry artists and beaders know our millimeter bead sizes like the back of our hands!

These are ready to go into the oven.

OR...

We can get fancy!

I thought this Stampin' Up rubber stamp that I had would go well with the woodland

theme of our cookie cutter.

I inked the stamp on a regular green ink pad, and as you can see, I made two mistakes.

First, I probably pressed a little too hard with the stamp on the dough, and second,

I should have been more careful when inking my stamp as to not get ink on the edges

of the stamp. That is, if we were going for perfection. But we weren't, we were going

for fun and I sort of like the handcrafted look of this one of a kind mushroom!

For this next one I tried a birds nest stamp and metallic silver ink.

I was more careful this time when inking and stamping.

Once all were stamped, I baked them in a 200 degree F oven for close to three hours,

flipping them over about half way through baking. The parchment paper made them

very easy to flip.

The final result: After a little trial and error our stamped ornaments were looking good!

Both the raw dough and the finished, baked ornaments had a natural, bread color

that got darker with baking. They had a nice organic look and feel to them.

Later...

We had a lot of fun making salt dough, but next, we wanted to try something a little bit
different... so next we created a batch of Bright White Clay Dough!