Flour, Salt, Water Ornaments

These are the ornaments I made out of the flour, salt, and water dough. I painted them with red or gold folk art paint which went on very well but I learned a few things not to do with my next batch (not counting being careful about setting the microwave timer properly).

I would have preferred to have rolled the dough out thinner because some of the centers aren't really hard. I think it will dry out in time, though, but for now some of the items have puffy centers and some have collapsed centers. It would also have been better to make larger holes for hanging.

I used folk art paint but it would be best to use water washable paints when doing this craft with children. The folk art paint did wash off easily if I didn't let it dry too long, though.

I also wish I'd kneaded the dough longer to make it smoother. I also will sand off the edges next time. Since this was my first attempt, it turned out okay and really was easy to do. I will definitely watch the time on the microwave on my next attempt and limit cooking to 2 minutes with a repeat of 1 minute if necessary. If the dough is rolled thinner it probably won't even take that long.

Again, the recipe is 2 parts flour, 2 parts salt, and 1 part water. Knead until the dough mixture is nice and smooth before rolling out. Use cookie cutters for making the ornaments, punch in a hole with a pencil at the top of the ornament, place them on an oiled plate and bake in the microwave for 2 minutes. Watch them carefully!!

They'll hold heat for a while so let them sit until cool before painting them.

Have fun! I did, even though mine are less than perfect.