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Simple Dough Ornaments

 OCTOBER 2018

A few years ago I found a new craft to keep my hands occupied of an evening and I've loved it ever since. It's cheap (really, really cheap), clean and versatile and best of all you don't need to be particularly arty, crafty or creative to enjoy it.

It's bread dough ornaments and over the years I've made initials, Christmas decorations, wall  plaques and even a fruit basket out of this dough. With Christmas on the horizon, I thought I'd share my recipe and instructions for making dough ornaments with you. 

This isn't a traditional recipe. This dough is very smooth and white and air dries (making it ideal for littlies to play with) to an almost porcelain finish so you can create some truly beautiful work with it.

You will need:
1-1/4 cups cold water, 
1 cup cornflour
2 cups bicarb soda

Step 1. Whisk everything together in a medium saucepan and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring all the time. It turns into a thick, sticky blob.

Step 2. Turn it out onto a flour pastry sheet (use cornflour to dust) and knead it for a few minutes until it's no longer sticky and feels like playdough. Alternatively, if you have a dough hook on your mixer, use the mixer to do the kneading.

Once kneaded you can shape it, roll it into balls to make beads, flatten it and use cookie cutters to make shapes for ornaments, roll long, thin strips and plait it or weave it over a bowl or cake tin to make baskets.

If you are making beads, use a darning needle to poke a hole through the centre for threading. If you are making ornaments, use a drinking straw to make a hole for a hanger. 

Lay the shapes on a cake cooler and let them air dry. If they are thick it could take 24 hours for them to completely dry. 

Once dry, paint and decorate as you wish. Spray with clear varnish to preserve the colours if you want to, but it's not necessary.

If you use stickers and/or decals to decorate your ornaments, give them a coat or two of Mod Podge to seal them to the ornaments.

If you make ornaments from the dough recipe I'd love to see them, I am always looking for inspiration.
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