Clay Dough Ornaments

Clay Dough Ornaments

I'd promised the girls a holiday craft . . . and realized we still have quite a few cinnamon ornaments from previous holidays.  Due to this, I went on a quest for a new ornament recipe.  I found one with gorgeous looking ornaments at the woodside kitchen.  I knew my ornaments would look nothing like this with my two Helpers, but thought they would still make great gifts.  I was right.

This is a really easy recipe and holds up well to re-rolling of the dough over and over when some little munchkins stick a cookie cutter right in the middle of the dough.  I do recommend only rolling half of the ball of dough out at a time, leaving the other in the fridge, when working with kiddos.

I also suggest Cookie Cutters that do not have lots of small shapes as the dough can be quite ornery.  We were only able to make one angel as her head kept ripping off.  The simple hearts, trees and crosses were the easiest with which to work.

Clay Dough Ornaments

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup baking soda

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp orange extract

In a small saucepan, mix the cornstarch, baking soda and water.  Let heat over medium-low heat, stirring often with wooden spoon.  The ingredients will start to thicken.  When most of the water is gone and the ingredients have started to turn into a dough that sticks together, remove from heat.  Stir in the 1/2 tsp orange extract.  Stir a few more times until the dough holds together and the water is gone.  Turn dough into bowl, cover with dampened towel and place in fridge (or freezer if your helpers are impatient) to cool.

While dough is cooling, prepare your ornament making area.  We used my awesome Tupperware rolling mat (sorry Mom, we're still not done borrowing it yet!) covered in cornstarch.  Note - you may want to wear old clothes, the same as your Helpers, especially if they love giving hugs during projects!  We pulled the dough from the freezer, covered our hands in cornstarch and kneaded the dough a few times.  We rolled the dough to 1/4" thickness the first round.  Then, I decided to make them a smidge thicker since I had little Helpers. 

Cut the dough with cookie cutters.  Place them on parchment lined cookie sheets.  After all dough is done, these can either air dry, turning every few hours, or in an oven at 175F for 2-3 hours, turning every 1/2 hour.  We air dry ours.