The salt dough is a classic when it comes to homemade Christmas decorations! In addition to water, homemade salt dough consists of only three ingredients: flour, salt and vegetable oil. It is made in a few minutes and can be processed to make beautiful hanging decorations and Christmas gifts together with your children. Let the little ones knead and decorate beautiful Christmas tree pendants. This is how you promote their fine motor skills and imagination. And then coloring and decorating is great fun for young and old! A successful result at the end is only a pleasure!

Different techniques are used for crafting with salt dough. Stamps or hand and footprints are clever alternatives to create beautiful decorative pendants. Several kitchen items could also help with making the Christmas decorations. You could also give the little figures a nice shimmer! Clear coat is perfect for the purpose.

BASIC RECIPE FOR SALT DOUGH:

You need:

• 1 cup of salt
• 2 cups of wheat flour
• 1 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of oil
• possibly acrylic paint
• Pastry roller
• Cookie cutters
• Silicone mold
• Straw or Toothpick

Step by step instructions:

1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and mix well.
2. Knead into a dough with water. Add the water and knead everything into a smooth dough.
3. Soften with oil. Finally add the vegetable oil and knead again extensively to increase the suppleness of the dough.
4. If the dough feels too sticky, just add a little more flour and salt. If it is too dry and cracks easily, add a little more vegetable oil and knead again well. The oil makes the dough very pliable, like modeling clay, and it also prevents the dough from sticking to the hands and drying out too quickly.
5. Roll it out on a floured work surface and cut out or shape with your hands as you wish. It’s particularly easy if you use cookie cutters or fondant cutters.
6. Provide the finished cookies with a hole to hang them up.
7. Tip: The dough will be even smoother if you only use one and a half cups of flour and an additional half a cup of corn starch instead of two cups of flour. This will also reduce the chance of your characters cracking in the oven later.

It is best to store the finished dough in portions in an airtight container and only take out as much as is needed for handicrafts. This way the salt dough stays fresh for several weeks and does not dry out.

I really like that I can let the finished salt dough ornaments or figure air dry, because it is more sustainable. Depending on the thickness of the handicraft objects, this can take up to several days. If you don’t have the time, it is faster with the oven: 

1. Place the finished salt dough objects on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. 
2. First set the oven to 50 degrees and bake your works of art for an hour for each 0.5 centimeter thickness. If necessary, open the oven door a crack at the beginning or open it too wide now and then so that the moisture can escape better. 
3. Then increase the temperature to 120 to 150 degrees and bake the salt dough for another hour or longer for very large pieces. 

Note: The higher the baking temperature, the higher the risk that bubbles or cracks will form on the surface of the dough. Therefore, you should definitely start with low temperatures. You can also brush the surface thinly with vegetable oil.

Color the salt dough

If you like, you can color the mass with food coloring before processing. This has the advantage that the finished works have a very even color that does not peel off. A disadvantage is that, depending on what you want to tinker, you have to color several portions differently and are less flexible later.

Colored salt dough is particularly suitable for monochrome handicraft objects or for those that get by with just a few colors. In the case of colorful and small-scale works, it is advisable to apply the color later.

Tip: When you add a few drops of seasonal essential oils, you can use them beyond the holiday season as air fresheners. You can personalize the fragrance however you’d like.

Last-minute present with salt dough 

Pair your handmade ornament with an Essential Oil and give them a joyous reminder of Christmas long after they opened the last present.

Still no present for the grandparents? How about a beautifully painted hand and footprint of the offspring immortalized in salt dough. This very personal memento is very easy to make and can definitely be seen as a decoration for wall or furniture. 

I hope you enjoyed this DIY.

I wish you a lot of fun doing it yourself and a Merry Christmas.