I have a collection of Brown Bag Cookie Molds dating back to the 1980's so it only made since that I, as an artist and crafter, would venture into making salt dough ornaments back in the mid-1990's.
Unfortunately, and in spite of my attempts to preserve them as suggested...bugs found their way into my sealed storage box and took a nibble on my Santa's toes.
That, and the heat of my attic caused them to warp.
In cleaning out my studio recently, I decided to go on a toss my adorable little salt dough Santa ornaments.
In order to help ease the pain of their loss, I wanted to share them with my readers along with some other pointers I've since learned about how to craft and properly store Salt Dough Ornaments.
First, I went with a very basic recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments. There are dozens of variations but I used one like this one available on cooks.com:
| SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS | |
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. salt About 1/3 c. water
Mix the salt and flour together in a bowl. Add the water a little at a time. Squeeze the dough with your hands until it is smooth. Roll out dough using rolling pin (on a floured surface). Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Let air dry on aluminum foil covered cookie sheet for 24 hours. Or bake in 225 degree oven about 5 minutes. Watch closely - do not burn ornaments.Be sure to put a hole at the top of each ornament before baking, so you can hang them on Christmas tree. May paint or use markers to decorate. May coat with clear shellac or nail polish to preserve ornaments.
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When using the Brown Bag Cookie Molds, you will need to coat them. I used a product like Pam.
The directions say to let dry OR bake...I did both.
I actually used acrylic paints, an antiquing gel, and finished it off with a spray varnish.
I can see the benefit of the use of watercolors to give the ornaments a more translucent wash of color versus the opacity of the acrylic paints.
According to some of the articles I've read, the varnish should deter insects. These ornaments were about twenty years old before something nibbled on them.
I stored them wrapped in tissue paper and I believe the "air tight" container my have attracted too much humidity which caused the eventual warping.
The directions say to let dry OR bake...I did both.
I actually used acrylic paints, an antiquing gel, and finished it off with a spray varnish.
I can see the benefit of the use of watercolors to give the ornaments a more translucent wash of color versus the opacity of the acrylic paints.
According to some of the articles I've read, the varnish should deter insects. These ornaments were about twenty years old before something nibbled on them.
I stored them wrapped in tissue paper and I believe the "air tight" container my have attracted too much humidity which caused the eventual warping.
Thank you for sharing. I had these same santa molds (unfortunately didn't make it out of the divorce with these) but I used paper to create paintable ornaments. I also used acrylic paints and a varnish finishing spray. I love the antiquing look, but didn't think about that at the time. The paper held up well through the years. Wish I still had them... maybe it's time to make some more with different molds. Thanks again!!
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