Make Christmas Ornaments with Dough

Making beautiful holiday ornaments with dough can be fun and easy if you follow these steps. It's also a fun craft idea for children! This article teaches you how to make Christmas ornaments out of dough using either a microwave or an oven.

Ingredients

  • Oil (enough for your hands)
  • 4 cups of flour
  • 1 1/2 cups of water
  • 1 cup of salt
  • Food coloring

Yields one dozen cookies

Steps

Mixing the Dough

  1. Rub your hands with cooking oil. This will give the dough more resiliency as you work with it.
  2. Mix together all-purpose flour, water and salt. Use your hands for best results. Knead dough for approximately 10 minutes.
  3. Roll out the dough out on a well-floured surface. Roll out dough until it is approximately {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} thick. Dough rolled too thickly will take longer to dry and could be doughy even after cooking; dough rolled too thin causes the dried ornaments to break more easily.
  4. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Reindeer, elves, stars, snowflakes, Christmas trees, birds, or angels are all great ideas of ornament shapes.
    • Alternately, let the kids design their own shapes. These ornaments won't have the clean, articulated lines of a cookie cutter, but they'll be one-of-a-kind, and entirely their own!
  5. Thread an oversize needle through the top of each ornament to create a hole for hanging. The hole should be at least {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} from the top of the ornament.
  6. Transfer cookies onto a baking tray or plates, depending on your cooking method.

Cooking in the Oven

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) before mixing dough.
  2. Once the oven is ready and the dough is cut, cook for 30 minutes. Allow ornaments to cool.
  3. Lay out plastic or wax paper on a table or another flat surface. This will prevent staining as you paint the ornaments.
  4. Paint ornaments with poster or tube paints. Decorate until ornaments are satisfactory. Once dry, spray with clear polyurethane on both sides to preserve.
    • These ornaments are not suitable or safe to eat. Do not attempt to eat them.
  5. Once dried, string a thread through the hole on the top of the ornaments. Alternately, use ribbon or thread to hang.

Cooking in the Microwave

  1. Lay out plastic or wax paper on a table or another flat surface. This will prevent staining as you paint the ornaments.
  2. Mix together 1/4 bottle of food color with one cup of water for paint. Alternately, use poster or tube paints. Greens, reds, silvers, golds, and deep blues are considered traditional Christmas colors.
  3. Paint with a basting brush or paint brush. For a gauzier texture, use cotton swabs. Decorate until ornaments are satisfactory.
  4. Place your ornaments, four at a time, in the microwave. Cook for about two minutes at high.
  5. Check the consistency of the dough. It should feel like a moderately dampened sponge. If it is already dried out, take ornaments out of the microwave and allow to cool.
  6. Microwave ornaments for an additional minute. Take ornaments from microwave and allow to cool.
  7. Spray ornaments with extra hold hairspray or lightly coat with Flecto Varathane (acrylic finish) or decoupage. This will give the ornaments a nice, glossy look.
    • Note: Do not microwave the ornaments after applying hairspray and /or acrylic finish. These products are flammable and will ignite in your microwave, causing a fire hazard.
  8. Allow ornaments to dry overnight.

Decorating Ideas

  1. Put silver cookie beads in ornaments while still damp. This will give the ornaments a bit of sparkle by reflecting light.
    • Cookie sprinkles can be lightly applied and lightly pressed into the dough.
  2. Yarn can be used to make hair or smiles on ornaments. Lightly wet the yarn before pressing it into ornaments: This will help you control its design as well as keep it from browning in either the oven or the microwave.
  3. Use small amounts of dough as add-ons. Set small amounts of dough in different colors to be rolled into eyes, mouths, shoes, buttons, etc. Paint a different color for added contrast.
  4. Score the dough with a needle to create texture contrasts. Use checkered patterns, or score circles or simply squiggly lines.
  5. Finished.

Tips

  • If you paint before you do the drying, it will allow for more contrast, especially on ornaments that have two or more colors.
  • Spray paper plates with a non-stick cooking spray (such as PAM) to avoid sticking.
  • Children especially love working with the dough, cutting with the cookie cutters and helping with the painting, while toddlers adore rolling the dough as this gives them a chance to join in the fun.
  • Please note that the hairspray, flecto varathane and/or decoupage may not make your ornaments last longer, but they do add to the aesthetic quality of your ornaments. Also, do not microwave the dough after it is sprayed with hairspray, flecto varathane and/or decoupage. These chemicals are flammable.
  • Whatever you or your children can come up with, be creative.

Warnings

  • Do not eat this mixture!!!
  • Adult supervision is recommended when placing the ornaments in the microwave.
  • In case of ingestion, if you have used any kind of color that's not food color, call a doctor immediately. If there aren't toxic substance in them, make sure the child is given a good amount of fluids through the day due to the high salt content of the dough.
  • Do not place anything metal in the microwave.
  • Do not place dough on newspaper; it will get ink on the dough.
  • These doughs are not edible due to the high salt concentration (although if just a small amount is ingested, it won't hurt you. The taste alone will be enough to deter large quantities being eaten) especially if hairspray or other toxic substance is used on them.

Things You'll Need

  • Rolling pin
  • Cookie cutters
  • Needle and thread or yarn
  • Plastic (for covering a table or other flat surface)
  • Basting brushes and cotton swabs

Related Articles

  • Make a Bottle Cap Reindeer Ornament
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