Anyone have a dough ornament recipe? I found an old one in one of my grandmothers cook books but it calls for alum which I don't know what that is or where to get it. Any ideas? I would love to have kids make an ornament this year.
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Until we "meat" again, break an "egg"
Here is somnething I just saw the other day in my homeschool lesson manual:
Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
4 ounces cinnamon
1 T. ground cloves
1 T. gound nutmeg
3/4 c. applesauce
1 T. white glue
1 heavy-duty plastic bag
rolling pin
seasonal cookie cutters
drinking straws
ribbon or yarn
wax paper
In the heavy-duty plastic bag, mix the first five items above. Knead the dough in the plastic bag until the mixture is smooth. Roll mixture to 1/2-inch thickness and cut into shapes with the cookie cutters. Use a drinking straw to punch a hole in each ornament. Dry on wax paper for several days, turning each piece over every day until both sides are dry.
Run a ribbon through the hole. The ornaments are ready to hang! (These ornaments are NOT edible)
I haven't tried it yet, but I bet they would smell wonderful!
We use the same recipe as Karen... We don't use cookie cutters, we make flat, clay-type sculptures. We've sculpted small santas, snowmen angels, etc. Bits of dough are "glued" with water, and the hole is punched with a drinking straw...
When they're baked and cooled, we paint them with acrilic craft paint, and then date the back with sharpie markers. I have never varnished them ( cool idea though) and our painted ornaments have lasted these past 6 years.. We just put them on the tree last night.
If you decide to use yor Grandmother's recipe with Alum in it, you can find Alum in the spice aisle of your super market. It is a chemical commomly used in pickleing and probably used as a hardener in your clay dough.
I have used the cinnamon recipe and loved it! (so did the people I gave them to). This year, though, I tried another cinnamon recipe that used glue in it (in addition to all the rest of the ingredients). To me, it seemed to roll out better than the original recipe ("stuck together" better). If you'd like, I'll find that recipe & post it. Also, I "cooked" mine @ the lowest temp with a "cracked open" door for a while (until they started to curl up on edges) - flipped them over & turned the oven off & closed the door. Next afternoon, I did the same thing and they were dry...could probably do the cooking thing until they were totally dry in one day, but I did mine late @ night and wanted to go to bed...lol.
I also have an excellent cooked clay recipe (homemade) but it's on the other computer. I'll try to get to it tomorrow & post -- but it doesn't even crack when baked! (if I remember right, it's made with cornstarch & baking soda)
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Charlene, mother to five
When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.
I am going to try the one Karen posted first since it only has three ingredients. I have one I made when I was in preschool (and I am 33 now) It broke a couple of yeats ago but I still keep it and see it every year when we take out ornaments.
I was thinking of making some cubes. Does this recipe do well with shapes or mostly flat objects? I was going to do 4 cubes and paint the year (1 number on each block) for my neice since it is her first xmas. I thought I could paint them like play blocks. Not sure if it would work though. Have to try it.
If not I am sure I could get those small blocks at craft store. I was thinking of drilling a small hole through top down to bottom and stringing them with ribbon held with knots. I actually dreamed it a couple of nights ago because I was thinking about making ornaments all day! lol
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Until we "meat" again, break an "egg"
My daughter and I made some of these last year.
The problem we had was the top surface was not flat and smooth. Seems like as they baked we ended up with some bumps and humps on top
Anyone know what we did wrong?
