A few questions about Salt Dough

[TrixiebellaVonShweetz]

The weather is meant to be pretty rubbish for us tomorrow so I was thinking of bodging making some salt dough decorations with my DD (3)

Is it better to air dry or bake them? before or after decorating? best paints to use?

Absolute novice when it comes to this!!

Bake before decorating - maybe leave overnight in the oven to ensure thoroughly dry all the way through.

We made Xmas deccies from salt-dough one year - a few of them are still usable 15 years later! They got damp in the loft over the winter.

I think we painted them white - to prime them - before decorating with my DH's paints that he had for painting model figurine thingies with.

Made some last Christmas, you can see them here. I painted them using basic white craft paint but I think long term a better acrylic paint would have covered better.