Salt Dough

Salt dough is a must for making basic sculptures. It can be used as an all-natural play dough and self-hardening clay alternative that can keep in the fridge for months. Your finished salt dough sculptures can be air-dried or oven-dried to set.

Materials Needed

2 cups flour
1 cup fine salt
½ to ¾ cup water
1 to 2 tbsp. wall paper paste (optional)
A few drops of food coloring or poster paint (optional)
Spoons or spatulas
Measuring cups
Mixing container (basin or bowl)

Safety Guidelines

This dough is not edible.

Steps

	1.	In a basin, mix two cups flour and 1 cup salt.
	2.	The amount of water needed ranges between ½ to ¾ cup. I usually start out with ½ cup and add a bit more in the next step.
	3.	Mix and knead, adding a bit more water if the dough is too tough or dry. The resulting dough should be firm but still workable. For extra cohesiveness, you may add 1 to 2 tablespoons of wall paper paste to your dough.
	4.	If you want a colored dough, add in several drops of food coloring or poster paint. For an all-natural colored dough, you can use food ingredients like coffee, curry, or annatto as colorants. Continue kneading until dough is uniformly colored.

Storage

Wrap dough in plastic wrap. For long storage, place wrapped dough inside ziplock bag and place inside the fridge. Remember to label it properly.
Salt dough keeps for a long time if wrapped and stored properly. However, you may need to add a bit of water or flour/salt on next use. If dough becomes too sticky, add some flour and salt. If it becomes too dry, add a bit of water.

Back to top

blogger counter