Make your own ornaments

Salt dough ornaments need three pantry ingredients, a rolling pin and some paint. You mix the dough, cut shapes, bake them until hard, then paint. They make good tree decorations and good gifts, and you can write the year on the back so you will know when you made them. This guide uses “Christmas” because of how people search, but ornaments suit any winter tree or window.

Setting up

Pick an evening when you have a few hours at home, because most of the time is baking. Clear a table, cover it, and have the oven on low before you start rolling. This is a nice thing to do with one or two other people, since cutting shapes is fun together. Keep young children supervised around the hot oven.

What to bring, beyond the list

• A rolling pin or a smooth bottle.
• Baking parchment and a baking tray.
• A pen or toothpick for writing the year.
• Clear varnish or sealer, such as a craft spray or brush-on sealer, to protect the paint.

Salt dough is not food. Keep it out of reach of pets and small children.

How to make salt dough ornaments

1. Mix the dough. Combine 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and about 1 cup of water. Add the water gradually until you have a firm dough that is not sticky. Knead it for a few minutes.
2. Roll it out to about a quarter inch thick on a floured surface. Keep it even so the pieces dry at the same rate.
3. Cut your shapes with cookie cutters. Re-roll the scraps until the dough is used.
4. Make a hole near the top of each one with a straw, large enough for ribbon to pass through. Make it a little bigger than you think you need, since the dough shrinks slightly.
5. Write the year on the back with a pen or toothpick.
6. Bake low and slow. Place them on parchment on a tray and bake at around 250°F (120°C) for a couple of hours, turning them over once. Thicker pieces take longer. They are done when completely hard and dry all the way through.
7. Cool completely before you touch them with paint.
8. Paint them. Acrylic paint works well. Let each coat dry, and add details with a small brush.
9. Seal with varnish, front and back, and let them dry.
10. Thread the ribbon through the hole and tie a loop.

What goes wrong

• They puffed or bubbled. The oven was too hot. Lower it next time, and prick any large bubbles before baking.
• They cracked. The dough was too dry or too thick. Add a little water to the dough, and keep pieces even.
• They bent. They dried unevenly. Turn them halfway through baking, and let them cool on a flat rack.
• They are soft in the middle. They need longer. Return them to the oven at low heat until completely dry.
• The paint went on streaky. Do two thin coats rather than one thick one.

Keeping them

Dry and sealed, they can last for years. Wrap them in tissue in a box and store them somewhere dry, because damp makes salt dough soften. Each year, you can bring them out and read the date on the back.

Ways to decorate them

• Leave them plain. A coat of white paint or just the varnish gives a simple, natural look.
• Press a pattern. Before you cut, press a leaf, a sprig of greenery or a piece of lace into the rolled dough, lift it off and cut around the impression.
• Stamp or write. Use a toothpick to write a name or date, or press in letter stamps before baking.
• Make gift tags. Cut a small rectangle or circle, add a hole, and write the name on once it’s dry.

Make it a winter evening

Do it with a friend or a sibling, put on a holiday movie between baking batches, and paint while the next tray cools. When you have a few finished, the next stop is decorating the tree.