Sculpting with Salt Dough

There's a little bit of Michaelangelo in all of us.  You know who Michaelangelo is, don't you?  He's that guy from Florence, Italy who lived in the 1500s who took a 20 foot flawed piece of marble and carved David, one of the most famous statues in the world.

Since there aren't many stray pieces of marble lying around these days, try sculpting with salt dough.  It's easy to make, easy to use, and, in case you need more than one or two tries to create your masterpiece, it's cheap.

What can you make with salt dough?  How about holiday decorations, fruits and vegetables, small animals like the elephant on this page, or images of your family and friends.  Use your imagination!  You can paint your creation or decorate it with dried flowers or spices.  Use tools like toothpicks, cookie cutters, straws, whatever you can think of to help you shape, carve and decorate the dough.  Easy directions for making the dough, coloring it, and preserving it follow.

Step 1:  How to make the dough

Step 2:  Modeling/Carving your project

Step 3:  Drying your project

Step 4:  Painting and decorating your masterpiece

Step 5:  Preserving your masterpiece

Suggestion #1:  Create your sculpture on a piece of aluminum foil.  It will be easier to move the object to a cookie sheet or place it somewhere to let it dry naturally.

Suggestion #2:  Try using a garlic press to create "dough spaghetti."  These are great to use as hair for dolls, tree tops, or animal fur.  Any kind of garlic press will do - simply add a small piece of dough into the garlic press and squeeze it through.  Don't forget to wet the dough surface before placing the "noodles" on top.

Don't Miss These:  For terrific ideas on what to do with your salt dough products, buy Crafts from Salt Dough (Step By Step) by Audrey Gessat and Cheryl L. Smith.  Another good book with all kinds of information is Salt Dough by Laura Torres and Wendy Wallin Malinow.

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BlackDog's Summer Camp