Many have heard that crafts are made from salt dough, but they themselves have not tried to work with such a plastic material that does not have a pungent smell, like plasticine, and does not cause an allergy in a child. And products created in this way can be stored for a long period of time.
Knead the salt dough for sculpting crafts according to the recipe is easy. The article will present some of the easiest options for making plastic mass. We will also share with readers the features of working with salt dough, how to dry molded figures. Photos of samples of simple crafts will help determine the choice of inexperienced handmade craftsmen.
They have their own characteristics and methods of storing dough, in the event that you do not intend to immediately use all the material. Sometimes for the brightness of the work, the dough needs to be painted. After reading our article, you will receive all the necessary information about the process of performing high-quality and spectacular crafts from salt dough.
Tough Dough Recipe
Depending on the size of future masterpieces of manual labor, it is necessary to select a recipe for the test. This option is intended for large figures a few centimeters wide. This salty dough for sculpting crafts turns out to be tight and dense, then when dried in the oven, the product will not "float", does not deform, but will completely save the ideas of the master.
To form a mixture, take 200 grams of white flour, twice as much fine salt called "Extra". Bulk components are poured into a dry bowl and thoroughly mixed without adding water. When the mixture is evenly mixed, you can slowly pour in small portions of 125 milliliters of cold water.
Some lovers of crafts made from salt dough recommend even keeping a cup of water in the refrigerator so that it is just ice. After kneading, the mass should become tight. Store the mass in cling film in the refrigerator.
Cooking option with starch
This dough is used for embossed compositions. The composition includes the following components:
- a full cup of white flour;
- half a cup of salt (keep in mind that salt is heavier than flour. So if you take in grams, then salt and flour are taken equally, 200 g each);
- 125 milliliters of cold water;
- a tablespoon of potato starch (some use a spoon of PVA glue or wallpaper glue instead).
First, according to the cooking technology, dry components are mixed, then an adhesive base (optional) and water are added.
Dough for children's work
Salt quite aggressively affects the condition of the skin of the hands, so before sculpting it is necessary to carefully check the condition of the skin. If there are wounds, scratches or other integrity problems, it is advisable to wear gloves. If you feel a burning sensation, then immediately wash your hands under running water and lubricate with a protective cream.
The following recipe for salt dough for crafts includes a baby cream, so there should be no burning problems. Consider which ingredients are part of this test:
- one cup of wheat flour;
- one and a half cups of fine salt;
- one teaspoon of baby cream;
- water, how much will take.
As a result, the dough should not be too tight, soft and not stick to your hands. Cold water is used, pouring it into the mixture gradually, so as not to make the dough too liquid. This option is also suitable for people with sensitive skin. Making crafts from salt dough is better than a small thickness so that the products do not crawl when drying.
Choux pastry recipe
Many ingredients are involved in the manufacture of this variant of salt dough for crafts at home. It needs to be done longer, since the components are not just mixed, but the dough needs to be brewed. Consider the recipe in more detail. You will need:
- white flour - 400 grams;
- two cups of boiling water;
- two tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- as much tartar;
- 100 grams of "Extras";
- half a small spoon of pharmaceutical glycerin.
Separately, salt and flour are mixed together in a container, tartar is added and the required amount of sunflower oil is poured. Boil the water separately, pour the kneading base into boiling water and pour glycerin. At low heat, cook until mass is uniform.
Then you need to put the pan on the balcony to cool the mixture. When everything cools down and there is no danger of getting burned, start kneading a tight dough, like on dumplings. If it is liquid, just add flour, as the hostess does when working with a simple dough.
How to make salt dough for crafts, you already understand. I would like to add that the mass with glycerin is good in work because subsequently crafts do not require additional opening with varnish. From it, products have a natural shine and look more impressive, and the colors become saturated.
Let's look at how you can color crafts from salt dough for children.
Staining methods
The dough for making crafts for both adults and kids can be painted in several ways. Firstly, the dye can be added in the process of kneading the mass itself, but then the whole dough will be monophonic. If you need multi-colored parts for work, then coloring is done in small portions with a ready-made mass.
What is better to use? Here the opinions of the masters were divided, some like to use food colors, which are sold in powder, in small bottles and in tablet form. Solid materials must first be crushed. To do this, use a small plastic bag and a rolling pin.
Others agree that it is easier to work with gouache paints. Consider these two methods in more detail.
Food Coloring
Crafts from salt dough with their own hands are often used by children in their games. For example, you can stick a variety of goods for a children's store - fruits, vegetables, bread, sweets.
Each product has its own specific color, so you can paint the dough in pieces, tearing the required amount from a large piece. Then a small pile in the palm of your hand is flexed. A dye of one color or another, dissolved according to the instructions, is poured into the middle of the formed bowl. Next, everything is thoroughly kneaded. Be sure to use rubber gloves for work. The mass after kneading should acquire an even tone.
How to color the dough with gouache?
Actions are carried out similarly to the first method, only in a bowl of dough is placed a spoon of gouache paint of the required color, and tea. Then everything is thoroughly kneaded so that there are no more or less colored areas on the mass.
Many users note in their reviews that the dough mixed in gouache is much brighter, and you can choose absolutely any shade by pre-mixing the colors in a plastic palette or an empty jar. Details after food dyes are paler and lighter, and the choice of shades is not very large.
Brush painting
This is an exciting lesson, for the sake of which they are created in most crafts from salt dough. The photo shows that the toy is painted after it has dried. Due to this possibility, working with salt dough differs from modeling from simple plasticine.
To create just one toy, a child first sculpts and then draws. Motility of the hands and fingers, and creative skills, and imagination are developing. After all, even such a simple horse can be decorated in completely different ways.
Flat crafts
You can work with salt mass in different ways. Both flat works and voluminous ones look interesting. To create a dough of the same thickness, use a regular rolling pin. Details or whole figures can be cut with a knife or a cookie cutter. Decorate crafts can be not only a picture, but creating relief details. For example, on the bird in the bottom of the photo you can see that a dent was made in the openwork with a plastic napkin. You just need to put it in a pattern on the dough and slightly press down with your palm.
To create a relief, use any objects, for example, a sprig of pine or lace. The main thing is that the print is clear.
This method can be used to make spectacular Christmas decorations, a pendant for beads, a pendant on a bag, a medal for a child for good behavior, and much more.
Voluminous work
An example of bulk products made from salt dough, we have already considered. These were the goods for the game in the "Shop". However, this is not one case when figures are made from dough. You can create a whole zoo with a variety of domestic and wild animals. To sculpt the figures, improvised materials are used. For example, the needles of such a cute hedgehog are made with scissors, because it’s quite difficult to dazzle each individual, the child will get bored with such a monotonous task.
And with the help of small incisions they are easy to make, and they will be exactly the same.
How to make dishes?
The step-by-step photo below shows that making a plate is quite simple. To make it look real, that is, it was concave inward, a simple technology is used. First, the dough rolls thinly on a flat surface on which a damp rag has been laid. Then, a relief napkin pattern is pressed on it.
The sheet is slightly wetted with a sponge so that it does not burst when bent, and excess parts are cut off. Then, the craftwork is lifted and transferred to the plate. When dried, the craft takes the form of the container in which it is located. Further drying is carried out according to the technology described below.
Drying crafts
Depending on the thickness of the craft, various methods of drying the dough are also used. This procedure is performed so that the work lasts much longer, is not exposed to mold, is solid and durable, so that later it can be painted with a brush or opened with acrylic varnish.
Crafts are dried both in a natural way and in the oven. In summer, when it’s warm, products are exhibited on window sills, on the balcony. In winter, you can use warm places near a radiator or fireplace.
However, voluminous crafts cannot be dried in this way, since they can dry out from the outside and remain wet inside. Over time, the craft will become moldy and you just need to throw it away.
How to dry the figures in the oven, read on. The basic requirements are as follows:
- the temperature should be minimal (50 ° C - 75 ° C);
- the oven door must be ajar;
- drying time is checked manually (if the part has dried out well, when you click on it, a loud sound is produced; if it is dull, it means it has not dried yet);
- tune in to long-term drying, it takes several hours (you need to carefully monitor that the figure does not dry out and does not burn);
- sprinkle a little flour on a baking sheet, as for baking cookies, or put parchment paper.
Have a good start!