Salt dough making

[Babycatsmummy]

Hello! I'm a new parent and have decided this Christmas I'll be making some sentimental ornaments with babies hand and foot prints.

Never done this before so just looking for some advice on the best paint, glitter and gloss to buy :-)

Thank you in advance 🥰

I never had much success with salt dough. They always rose too much in the oven and went soft/mouldy after a while.

Use plaster of paris.

Meanwhile I have teenagers and the salt dough decs they made as preschoolers still grace the tree every year.

There are recipes everywhere, use plain flour. Dry out low and slow in the oven, paint with gouache or poster paint then seal with PVA glue (mixed with your glitter of choice).

When the kids were small I also would make seasonal play dough, at Christmas we had green mint scented, red spicy (added mixed spice) and silver almond scented playdough, all with added glitter. Happy days.

I'd use air drying clay. Hobbycraft do a decent off white one for about £5 a block which would be plenty.
Salt dough eventually goes soft & mouldy in my experience.

Thank you! This is the sort of response I wanted and not negative ones 🥺

Give it a go and the airdrying clay/fimo options are a good back up plan.

I’ve made hundreds with kids over the years, now making them with my little one.

Use one part plain flour to two parts salt. Stir in warm water slowly until you have a pliable but not sticky dough. Roll onto greaseproof paper.

Air dry overnight or as long as possible, I find overnight and then in the oven on a low heat for a few hours works best. I do 50oC or 100oC max if thick. Turn the fan setting off on your oven, just use convection if possible.

Check often, turn them over when the top is fully dry to dry the bottom.

They should sound hollow when tapped, when cooked.

Turn off oven and leave to cool in oven.

Cover with acrylic paint and then add your details and a lacquer/varnish!

Sorry for sharing my honest experience 🤷🏻‍♀️

@SoupDragon I wanted to know the best glue and glitter etc to use, not that you don't like it! I'm trying to work on a budget and it's very disheartening when the first post is negative.

I microwaved mine which worked well. Yes to pva and paint.

Ours are 12 years old and still fine.

Make a few more than you want as the odd one will blow an odd bubble or something.

Go for it then 👌🏻
But they will be squidgy and mouldy in 15 years time regardless of how much paint and glitter you cover them in. If you want them to keep forever you need a better option then saltdough. We're just trying to give some helpful advice so no need to be a drama llama 🙄