I wanted some simple, small decorations for Halloween and fall. I had read an idea in a magazine about making these little salt dough ghosts, so I tried it out.
Granted, it didn't look as good as in the magazine, but it provided my 6 year old son and I with something to do for about a half hour and some decorations that (hopefully) can be used again after this year.
I also came up with a cute idea for a little garland - I just found freely available coloring pages of leaves, printed out multiple leaves on each page, colored them, and strung them along some rope that I had for bead stringing. It was another great thing for my son and I to do together.
I know these aren't very grand, but it makes me happy to have home made decorations in my home, and to know I really didn't spend a cent to do it.
(And one more note - ignore all the other stuff on top of my TV!)
By Jackie from Feasterville, PA
This page contains the following solutions.
Salt dough is a medium that inspires creativity for young and old alike. Use salt dough and food coloring to make a colorful pendant. Use it as a thrifty stocking filler, or wear it with your favorite T-shirt and make your friends go green with envy when they see your creative accessory.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Several years ago I made a beautiful turkey centerpiece out of salt dough. Unfortunately, I cannot find the instructions. I remember that the dough was rolled out then cut with a pizza cutter into strips. The dough strips were then placed over an inverted glass mixing bowl forming "loops" to create the tail. The rest of the turkey was just formed out of the dough and then baked to harden. Once hardened, you placed a block of foam behind the tail loops into which you inserted real feathers or dried flowers, etc.
I have several recipes for salt dough that I use with pre-schoolers. Most of them can be found at http://www.familyfun.com They have MANY craft ideas and recipes for that kind of thing. Hope you can find it there. If not, you may be able to if you do a search for "salt dough".
Hi your turkey centerpiece sound interesting could you please send me a picture if possible thanks. jojo
I had a neighbor who made one of these many years ago and I too have been looking for the recipe or craft book where it may be found. If you find it, I would appreciate you emailing me. Thanks janeenme AT yahoo.com
What are the pros and cons of using salt dough in making craft projects?
By Aggie from Deuba, Fiji Islands
It's been my experience the biggest con of using salt dough is that any humidity in the air will cause the sculpture to grab that moisture and go soggy-mushy-mouldy.
If you can get the sculpture completely dry (hard to do even in an oven on low for hours) and then completely sealed with a varnish or other sealer like polyurethane, you may not have that problem of soggy-mouldy items.
I need suggestions on what else to make out of "dough" my grandson and I used for Christmas decorations. And are there a variations of dough recipes? Thanks.
By Bonnie Walker from Bardstown, KY
