salt dough

I think I may have fallen in love with air dry clay! I have Â a couple more projects to share with you using this addictive stuff. But I thought I’d kick off with these super simple but delicately charming clay and copper fridge magnets. Once dried this stuff has a really beautiful texture that contrasts with the copper in a really lovely way…

You’ll need some air dry clay. I used DAS modelling clay in white. Some disc magnets. I used these neodymium magnets measuring 10mm x 1mm as they were nice and flat. A cookie cutter. Copper spray paint. (Not pictured but I used Kobra in Copper). Superglue. Fine grade sandpaper.

Knead the clay until pliable then roll out flat. About the thickness of a biscuit. Sorry I didn’t measure the clay at this stage but the dried clay is about 4-5mm thick…

Use a palette knife to lift the shapes onto a ceramic plate. Push the magnets carefully into the back of your shapes. Push them in a little more than you might think and more than you can see here! The clay shrinks as it dries and will force the magnets out as it does. We’re not aiming to secure the magnets in this step…but to make an indentation deep enough so that when dry, the magnet will sit flush with the surface of the clay…if that makes sense! Allow to go slightly hard then transfer to a cooling rack to fully harden. (about 24 hours).

When dry, gently smooth rough edges with a fine grade sandpaper. (120 grit or finer) and secure the magnets in their little indentations with a dab of superglue. This picture illustrates what I meant about the magnets. The one on the left worked perfectly because I pushed the magnet in far enough to make a deep enough indentation. The one on the right, I didn’t; and the magnet “popped out” as the clay dried and shrank. You can also see all the little fibres in the clay before it’s been sanded, and the result after a little bit of very gentle sanding.

To get the paint effect I simply decanted (sprayed) a small amount of the copper spray paint into a small plastic pot/lid so there was a puddle of paint in the bottom and (outside in the garden!) flicked the paint onto the shapes from about 4 foot above so as to get a nice splatter pattern….

Then just pop on the fridge and you’re done!

This is obviously a self indulgent grown up version. But this would be a great project to get the kids involved with. You could make a whole bunch and have fun splatting them with paint outside. Of course you don’t Â have to use air dry clay. There are DIY versions out there using cornstarch…or good old salt dough would work as well as polymer clay or fimo.

Cheap, easy, quick, fun. What’s not to love!

I’ll let you in on a little secret. These were meant to go on our tree. But I liked them so much atop brown parcel paper and tied with bright red ribbon, that they’re going to decorate our Christmas gifts this year instead! (Although I might still whip up a few for the tree as they’re super quick to do) I had originally planned to paint and glaze them too. But the natural texture and colour was telling me to leave them be. “We’re perfectly fine as we are thankyou”. That’s what they told me after 2 snowballs and a mini bottle of Rose wine gifted to me by one of my Avon customers…What? It was my birthday at the weekend. I’m allowed! Yep, 38 years and still not feeling remotely “grown up”!
I made some of these a couple of years ago but never finished decorating them. A couple of weeks ago I dug them out, painted them white and then set about decorating them with a folk art design with a red sharpie. They didn’t work out how I would have liked them so I decided to have another stab at them this year…

Anyhow, onto the scintillating subject of salt dough or “store cupboard fimo” as I like to call it 😉

Below: As I mentioned, I made some salt dough shapes last year so you can find the full low down on how to make the dough in this post. But essentially it’s a ratio of 2 parts flour + 1 part salt + 1 part water (tepid not cold). Blend the salt and flour first, then add the water and work into a dough. Following that formula you can make any amount of dough that you like. If you want a really smooth finish then make sure you knead it thoroughly. But I quite like the texture result of a slightly less smooth dough…

Above: I used a variety of cookie cutters to experiment with, and found these sugarcraft snowflake stampers/punches. They can be used to press out actual shapes from the dough, just like a cookie cutter; or simply to emboss the surface of the dough.

Below: For these star shaped gift toppers, I cut the main shape using a larger star cutter. Then with the next size down I “embossed” a border; then using my sugarcraft stamp I added an embossed snowflake to the centre. I also cut some smaller stars with just the embossed snowflake in the centre….

Above: The humble drinking straw makes a perfect hole punch for your hanging loop hole..

Below: There are a number of ways to dry out salt dough shapes. You can let them air dry for several days. Erm, no thanks. Our house is too tiny to have trays of these hanging around for days on end. You can bake them in the oven on a very low heat. Well yes. But firstly, our oven has conked out just in time for Christmas (!) and secondly; in my experience they don’t stay flat and have a tendency to catch and scorch in the blink of an eye. My weapon of choice in these matters is definitely the microwave. I left my shapes to air dry a bit overnight. Then, place them in batches, face down on baking parchment, on a microwaveable plate. Weight down with another FLAT plate. (I used a spare glass microwave plate). This will ensure they stay nice and flat and don’t bubble up during the drying out process. Then microwave on full power in 1 minute bursts, checking them as you go and wiping away any accumulated moisture from the plate. It usually takes 1-4 minutes depending on the overall size and thickness of the dough…

Below: They can still scorch in the microwave, which is why it’s important to check them between 1 minute bursts. But in this case I like the way a bit of added colour has enhanced the embossed details. I tried out a few different shapes and designs. The little round ones were cut using the little metal case that a tealight comes in. The “stylised garland” design on the heart shape was a bit of an experiment. I made the line indentations using the the edge of a ruler and added the “baubles” with a very narrow drinking straw…

And while all this was going on, Elliott was happy creating his own take on gingerbread men….

Hope all your Christmas preparations are going smoothly!

DIY: Clay & Copper Fridge Magnets

Salt Dough Gift Toppers…