Cornstarch Clay Ornaments

I made a lot of salt dough crafts in grade school. I remember how excited I got when I read a tutorial about it in a craft magazine at our school library. The recipe required some baking but at that time using the oven was out of the question -- it must have been either because I wasn't yet allowed to use it or I must have presumed our oven wasn't working because nobody ever used it at all. Anyway, I was absolutely thrilled to know that I could just leave the dough out under the sun to dry.

 

 

For my first project, I molded the dough into whatever odd shape I could think of (I remember I made a pair of little tsinelas) but a light bulb moment came and I realized that I could use the dough to make mini picture frames. Trust me, I made a lot of dough frames! Hmmm...I just might make a couple of dough frames one of these days for old times sake.

 

 

I am, however, now more drawn to use cornstarch instead of flour. I searched the internet for a flour recipe and discovered that cornstarch could actually give better results. By the way, these dough ornaments are for my son's friends from playhouse.

 

 

 

 I used a star-shaped cookie cutter at first but realized that the tips might be too sharp and "pointy" for the little kids. I also realized that rolling it out into small balls and flattening them down with my hand was a lot easier for me than having to use a rolling pin for the entire batch of dough. 

 

 

Here's the recipe for cornstarch clay recipe:

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup baking soda

1 1/8 cups water

 

Combine all the ingredients together and mix thoroughly in a sauce pan over low heat. Constantly stir until the mixture becomes really thick (kind of like mashed potatoes). Turn of heat and transfer mixture into a flat surface to cool. Knead and mold into shape. Set them aside to dry. These babies were left overnight on a baking sheet. They were also left out accidentally for a few hours inside the car!   

  

 

I also created little sachets made of parchment paper to hold each ornament and attached a basic label sticker.