Today we made a clay/dough that can be baked or air dried.
Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt , 2 Tablespoon of oil and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cold water.
We used this dough to make a few beads among other things.
We rolled the beads and then gently threaded them onto skewers and laid them on a foil lined tray.
We baked them at 300 degrees for almost an hour. bake until they are hard.
After they cooled we painted them with acrylic paints.
Once the paint dries you can put a coat of clear shellac or acrylic.
Molly also made a small box to hold her beads.
These can also be air dried for 48hrs.
A funny story about these beads: when Jake was little and we made these, he walked out the back door to get into the car and our stupid dog-not our smart dog-jumped up and ate the beads right off of Jakes neck. I drove around for years with a half strung necklace of those beads in my ashtray waiting to be fixed. Moral of that story I guess is keep these beads away from your dumb dogs as they are sure to think they are treats. But your smart dogs will know better! Or at least they will wait till your not looking.
Perfect timing! I was just flipping through Nature Crafts by Joy Williams and was thinking I needed to find a clay recipe.
BTW the blueberries were great
I better watch our dog then
We used to make this stuff when I was little, and made Christmas ornaments out of it. I loved it!
Is there something you can add to the dough to color it before baking, instead of painting after? Food coloring? Tempera powder?
Alissa
You could add food coloring to the dough when you make it.