Modeling from salt dough is such a universal task that you can get carried away with it both by a child and an adult. Working with this material has all the advantages of modeling, and additional benefits associated with the environmental safety of the test. You can sculpt from it even for children up to a year: a sea of pleasure and no risk.
How to prepare the dough
Modeling from salt dough involves the preparation of working material at home. This is nothing complicated: the proportions of flour and water are 1: 1, it is better to take coarse salt, it will create the impression of transparent inclusions that shine in the light. Even when coated with paint, such products retain this effect. Although, if you are going to perform delicate artwork, then such grains will be distracting - in this case, use fine salt. When mixing it with flour, do not forget that flour is two times lighter, so the amount of flour used is twice that of fine salt, although the weight of these ingredients is equal.
How much water to pour? The classic recipe contains a recommendation to add 1 part, but it is better to focus on the type of test: it should mold well, but not spread. One teaspoon of vegetable oil will add a mixture of elasticity and prevent the finished product from cracking.
For the little ones: salted dough fish
A molding from salt dough develops fine motor skills, voluntary attention and creative abilities of a child, calms the nervous system and gives adults a reason to distract from their affairs and just chat with the baby. For a small child, tactile sensations are very important, so sculpting is a great activity.
Try creating fish from salt dough. This is a simple figure that any baby can do, especially with the sensitive help of parents. Bake the finished figure in the oven at the lowest temperature until a slight blush appears. Be sure to cool the figure before giving it to the child for further work.
Gouache falls perfectly on the salty dough, after it dries, you can cover the fish with colorless nail polish or hair so that it does not leave colored marks on the fingers.
Interior decoration - wood from salt dough
If for children modeling from salt dough is, first of all, entertainment, then for real masters it can turn into art.
After mixing the dough with fine salt, color two-thirds of it with cocoa or brown gouache, and leave a third white. On a baking foil, lay the trunk out of brown sausages, giving it relief with the help of longitudinal grooves (work with the stack). From the trunk up, lay out the branches. Now the crown. Make it out of long white and brown sausages that need to be laid out with beautiful curls and loops to create the effect of continuity. The loops can intersect each other, overlap one another and thread through each other. The main thing is that there is no piling up of parts, and the crown creates a feeling of lightness. For this, sausages must be really thin.
Dry the finished work in the oven, and after cooling cover with acrylic varnish. The colors will become brighter and the wood will shine. Now the figure can be glued to thick paper and inserted into the frame. A wonderful gift for friends or for your own home is ready.
Subtleties and Tricks
To prevent the craft from cracking at the drying stage, it is better to dry it in 3-4 stages with interruptions. An hour in the oven on the smallest fire the product is dried, then 2-3 hours at room temperature. Turn the product over and repeat the process, and so on 3 or 4 times, depending on the thickness of the dough. This applies to highly artistic things, children's crafts can be less - they will die later, after the final finish.
It’s best to stick the figures to the paper with PVA glue, the main thing is to wait for the glue to dry completely, and then raise the picture: the dough is heavy, the image may creep if done ahead of time