Thursday, November 3, 2005

Salt Dough Ornaments

A few days ago I decided I needed some more gingerbread men and begin cutting fabric, sewing and stuffing. I wasn't having all that much fun -- too time consuming and my stitching lines were not all that straight so the men were turning out with some quirky figures. "There must be a better way," I said to myself. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just bake cookies and paint them? Hmmmmm...off to the net I went in search of a recipe for dough ornies. I found a salt dough recipe and gave that a try. It didn't take very long to whip them up and put them in the 175 degree oven the directions indicated.

The recipe said to bake for 2 hours. They were no where near done in two hours. I baked another 2 hours and finally had to remove them so I could go to bed. The next day they still did not feel hard enough so I put them back in the oven for another 4 hours--yes, I had to bake them a total of 8 hours!

The next day I painted them brown before I left for work (5:00 a.m. and I am painting cookies!). When I got home they were ready for the "frosting" (Scribbles paint). Today I put the little bow ties and buttons on them and here they are completely finished.

The little pinwheel ornaments in front of them have just received a coat of Modge Podge to stiffen them up. I found them all in a box of Christmas crafts. I must have made them a couple of years ago and forgotten them. Maybe I never used them because the fabric was too flimsy to stand up on the tree. I will see what happens when the Modge Podge dries. I may find a tree for them this year.

8 comments:

  1. You might enjoy another dough ornament. I've made these with children from age 4 to 12, and they've enjoyed doing them as well.

    The dough is made with applesauce and cinnamon. There is probably a recipe out in the 'net for the exact porportions, but when I was mixing it up, I was often in a classroom and just did it by "eye"... ie: a cup of applesauce and however much ground cinnamon it took to make a nice stiff dough.

    It rolls out, using more cinnamon as "flour" and you can use any cookie cutter you like. The dough can airdry, or you can bake it in a warm oven (200), watching carefully. I prefered airdrying, unless it was very humid, as the dough would sometimes "puff" in the oven.

    You get: a nice, hard ornament that smells wonderful. It will be naturally dark brown, but takes paint well. I've had some last several years without any Modge Podge at all, even without painting.

    Have fun!

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  2. Hi Nancy,
    Yes, I found the cinnamon recipe also. I have the cinnamon and applesauce sitting on the counter to try this weekend.

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  3. I don't remember baking the dough ornaments at such a low temp, although they do 'puff' at higher temps... maybe a low oven for an hour, and then a higher temp for the second hour?

    8 hours is insanity.

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  4. These are so cute, but I have one up on the cinnamon and applesauce recipe. It's Aleene's bread,glue and cinnamon mixture! I made a few pieces many years ago and they don't need painting. No baking, the glue hardens on it's own and the cinnamon makes them smell good. I don't understand how the applesauce,flour and cinnamon ones work unless you seal them at then end.

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  6. http://www.duncancrafts.com/projects/project.asp?ID=5962&SID=12

    This is the exact recipe!!

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  7. Ok, final word...geez...I swore I took a piece of bread (or two) without the crusts, added glue and cinnamon to make the ornies. The above recipe is definitely an Aleene's recipe, but it calls for applesauce.

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  8. Jenn, I thought 8 hrs was insanity, too! I think the size of these guys may be one reason. They are huge! Maybe a higher temp oven would work better also. I plan to try another batch soon with much smaller candy canes.
    I still have not done the cinn/applesauce ones. I don't think my recipe has any flour in it...just applesauce and cinnamon. Maybe I have that wrong......will have to check later.

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