During the past week we have celebrated both my mum and sister's birthdays. I spotted salt dough footprints on one of my favorite blogs, The Imagination Tree, and thought they would make perfect home made gifts. We did hand prints instead though to fit in with our 'H' theme this week.
We used this recipe:
1 cup salt
1 cup plain flour
Up to half a cup of water
We started by mixing the ingredients together in a bowl and kneaded it until it was smooth and stretchy. Initially I didn't add enough water and then added too much, so little bit of trial and error was needed to get the consistency right. Once the dough was kneaded, I separated it into three equal balls and flattened out a smooth surface by hand.
We made an impression with Priya's hand in the salt dough and then popped them onto a tray and into the oven. They were supposed to be baked at 100°C for 3 hours as baking at a very low heat for a long period of time dries them out sufficiently. I made our prints too thick so I had to leave them in for 4 hours to give them more time to dry out. If you do this, make sure to press your dough out thinner than I did.
Our prints worked out okay for their intended purpose and Priya enjoyed painting them the following day. Once dried I gave them coat a of gloss and varnish. Not bad for a first try. Salt dough has endless possibilities and I am looking forward to giving it another go.
That dough looks so soft and fun to play with. Love the color of blue she used.
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