The process of creating figures from salt dough has been known for a long time and at present has not lost its popularity. The process of sculpting finished products is interesting, which contributes to the development of imagination, artistic taste and fine motor skills in children. In addition, thanks to a special recipe, crafts are stored for a long time and create comfort in the house, recalling happily spent moments. In more detail, we will consider the process of creating figures from salt dough with our own hands in our article.
What are crafts for?
First of all, the process of creating products from salt dough is necessary for organizing joint leisure for you and your child. It contributes to the development of many useful skills. You can start sculpting figures from salt dough as soon as the child is one and a half years old. This process does not require large financial investments and certain skills. But it is safe to say that he will bring a lot of pleasure to the whole family.
Where to begin?
For your new hobby you will need a small amount of the necessary ingredients and kitchen utensils. In the store you need to purchase flour and finely ground salt. In order to knead the dough, you will need a measuring cup and mixer to better mix the ingredients.
There are so many different variations of recipes for making salt dough. Each master adds various ingredients to his taste to obtain a certain consistency and suppleness of the source material. In the next chapter, we will look at the easiest way to create starter dough figures.
Recipe
To prepare products from salt dough, we use the simplest recipe. You will need such a set of products: 200 grams of flour, 200 grams of salt and 130 grams of water. All these ingredients must be poured into a container and mixed with a mixer, and then knead the resulting dough manually. It is also necessary to monitor the consistency and appearance of the salt dough. For example, if it starts to crumble, you need to add water, and if it sticks to your hands, add flour. The result is a great salt dough for sculpting figures.
It is worth noting that each master uses his own recipe. For example, some housewives add starch, sunflower oil, or hand cream to the base products. Over time, you will also use your original recipe.
Workspace organization
In order to organize a workspace for you and the child, you will not need additional financial investments and time costs. You will need a fairly simple set of tools and attributes: a modeling board, a small rolling pin, a brush and a glass of cold water to hold together individual parts of the figures, cookie cutters that are suitable for creating simple figures, a plastic knife.
It is also necessary to take care of the presence of gouache or acrylic paints, cocktail tubes in the house, if you decide to hang the resulting masterpiece on the wall, and various items for decoration (cereals, bean cultures, beads, beads, sparkles and others).
How to interest a child?
You can involve children who have reached one and a half years to create figures from salt dough. First you need to comfortably seat your child and show him the finished salt dough. Then tear off a piece from it and make a simple figure, show the child that the dough needs to be wrinkled and rolled. Let him take part in this pleasant activity. And only now you can start creating figures. It should be noted that for the first lesson with a child, you need to choose the simplest schemes. You can, for example, start with cookie cutters or make a cheerful snowman or caterpillar. We will consider the process of creating figures in more detail in the next chapter of our article.
How to make figures from salt dough?
To begin, consider the examples of creating figures for beginners. If you first thought of doing this kind of creativity, then as an option you can start with a garland. The process of creating a figure from salt dough is step by step considered in our article. To create a garland, you will need cookie cutters. The dough must be rolled to a thickness of about 0.5 centimeters. Then with molds we squeeze out several figures from the salt dough and pierce the holes at the top for their subsequent fastening together. The creation of such a garland can easily be timed to any festive event or create an aromatic craft, securing cinnamon sticks and stars on the figures, sprinkling with cloves.
Above is a photo of figures from salt dough collected in a garland.
Also, for beginners, the creation of such simple figures as a snowman and a caterpillar is perfect. To create a snowman, you need to fashion three circles of different diameters, then moisten the brush in cold water and connect them together. All other paraphernalia, such as a carrot or a hat, can also be fashioned from dough or use imagination. Peas are perfect for the eyes.
In order to fashion a caterpillar, we also start by sculpting circles of various diameters. Here you can not be limited to the number of circles. Then you need to connect them together by wetting the brush in cold water and ironing the joints. Eyes, horns and other attributes can be fashioned from dough or use improvised materials.
Older children can be involved in creating a whole picture of salt dough. The most popular option is a vase or basket with flowers and fruits. To create this simple masterpiece, you need to roll out the dough and cut out the contours of the figures from it. You can use ready-made stencils, which must be prepared in advance by drawing them on cardboard or thick paper. Then in the end it remains only to cut out these ready-made items from salt dough with a knife and fasten the composition together.
Start by creating the simplest figures from salt dough, do not forget to use your imagination, experiment using various techniques and materials, and as a result you will get real masterpieces that will add comfort to your home.
Features of the drying process of crafts
There are two ways to dry salted dough products. The first way is to dry the figure in a natural way. To do this, place it in a dry place and wait a few days until the craft dries. But most often, the housewives use a different method, namely drying in the oven. This can significantly save time. In order to dry a product from salt dough in an oven, you need to take a baking sheet, cover it with foil or parchment paper. Then place the pan in a cold oven and bake at a temperature of 100-150 degrees. It is important to ensure that the figures are not burnt.
After these conditions are met, the product must be removed and allowed to cool. Then you can proceed to the next step - painting the figures. We will consider this process in detail in the next chapter of our article.
Decoration of products from salt dough
You can decorate figures from salt dough using beads, beads, sparkles, various cereals and legumes. True, it is worth remembering that when using all these attributes, the crafts will only have to be dried in a natural way.
In order to give the product a finished look, it is necessary to colorize it. This process involves the presence of gouache or acrylic paints, brushes and a glass of water. After staining the craft, you need to let it dry.
Some housewives add food coloring, instant coffee or cocoa directly to the salt dough, which allows you to immediately achieve the desired color. From this material they mold and then dry already colored figures.
In this article, we examined several ways to create crafts from salt dough. You have to choose from the options that is more suitable for you and your family. Over time, you will get real masterpieces with which you will decorate the house and give to friends.