More owls

Unlike the owls in my last post, these owls are of the salt dough variety.

Violet spent a weekend with us recently, and our project this time was salt dough ornaments.

I mixed the flour, salt, and water, divided the dough in half, and the two of us kneaded our halves to the consistency of bread dough. (You can find the recipe I used by clicking on "flour, salt, water" above)

Then we rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters for the shapes.

Supposedly the dough will dry in a warm oven (200° or so) after a few hours.

I guess I cut the ornaments too thick, because my half of them took about five days to dry, most of that time beside our wood stove.

Violet took her half home with her. She probably has them all painted by now.

Once they were finally dry, I applied 3-4 coats of Mod Podge to seal them nicely. They are now hard as rocks and should last for years. I think I'll use most of mine as name tags on Christmas gifts and as place names for my Christmas dinner table. I'll use a permanent marker to hand write names on each ornament.

Have you ever explored Pinterest? I love that website. It's chock full of creative ideas. Whether it's cooking, bread baking, gardening, family history, photography, jewelry making, knitting,...the list is endless,...Pinterest has clever ideas to share with you. Once you get to the website by clicking "Pinterest" above, type into the search bar the topic you're interested in. Better do this only when you have time to spare, though, because you'll become captured by all the clever ideas and you might not come up for air for several hours!

That's where I found the idea for these salt dough owls.

I mixed another batch of flour, salt, and water, did the usual kneading, rolled out the dough and cut it into circles. Here's where the magic happens: By using the edge of a pen's cap to create the "feathers," then by folding the dough, you are left with an owl staring up at you. Almost staring, that is, since you now need to add the eyes. Again, the trusty pen cap for the outer circle of the eye, a toothpick to make the inner dot of the eye, and voila! But don't forget to use a straw to make a hole in the top of the owl's head so you can hang the ornament on your tree.

My next salt dough adventure will involve making "star fish." I love the look of dried starf ish used as window ornaments, but the really nice ones are very expensive. I found directions on Pinterest for making salt dough star fish, though. No one will know the difference!