Salt Ceramic Dough

Here’s a simple recipe for making “durable” dough. This dough hardens when it dries so you can make more interesting things for keeping. It’s also a useful way of getting rid of that ancient corn flour that’s been lurking in the back of the grocery cupboard.

1 cup salt

1/2 cup corn flour

3/4 cup water

Mix everything together in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens and forms a “ball” (you’ll know when this happens…have you ever seen what happens with this amount of corn flour and water anyway).

Allow to cool slightly and knead thoroughly. Place in an airthight container until ready to use and knead again to soften.

Any objects made with this dough can be placed in the sun to dry (about 3-5 days, what kid’s got the patience for this?) or baked in the oven at a low heat for 2 hours. We baked it at 100 ºC for about 2.5 hours.

Beware that this dough is very sticky so have a baking tray ready – I “spray-and-cooked” mine just in case.

We made candle holders because it’s easy for your child to press things into it and easy for

you to keep around afterwards ( no ball and snake combo’s).

We achieved this look by limiting the colours available, otherwise it just becomes a brown mess, and by painting specific things. In Bigboy’s case, it was the sky and stars – can’t you tell?