Do you know what salt paste is? It is a homemade alternative to products such as plasticine or clay. It is just as fun as these materials and very easy to shape, so the little ones in the house will have a great time playing with it. I remember that when I was a child, what I had the most fun in the world was making all kinds of figurines with this material. I have to admit that it is an activity that I have maintained over the years and that today I am still preparing some figures with salt dough as a gift for birthdays and other types of parties. If you like to make figurines, this technique will excite you! But, you have been warned, as long as you do not give away some of your designs, you will soon be buried by them. Perhaps it can be a good way to start a professional project to get some money working from home. Who knows?
Is it easy to make salt paste?
Yes, it is very simple and cheap. Think that for its preparation water, salt, and flour are used, that is, materials that anyone has in their kitchen. In addition, you can then dye your salt paste in the colors that you like the most to give your crafts more joy. Forget spending more and more money on plasticine to have all the colors in the world and be able to combine them. Salt paste allows you to dye your dough any shade, so you’ll never run out of the key color for that character or object you want to create.
What do you need to make salt pasta?
We are going to need the following ingredients to make a salt paste
The proportions are fixed, as you will see later, but the amounts can be chosen by you depending on how much salt paste you want to make. Maintaining the relationship of the parts that we indicate here will be enough for your salt paste to turn out well.
- 1 part of salt, preferably fine so that our pasta is softer and more delicate
- 2 parts flour
- 1 part water
- Watercolor, liquid watercolor, tempera, acrylic paints… in general, paints that help you give color to our salt paste. If the children who are going to play with the salt dough are very young, we recommend the use of food coloring in case they end up putting the dolls they prepare in their mouths.
Instructions for making a salt paste
Step by step to make a salt paste
- In a kitchen bowl add the flour. Let’s mix it with the salt with the help of a wooden spoon. Stir carefully so that the ingredients do not come out.
- When both are well married, we begin to add the water little by little with the same wooden spoon. The trick to know when our mixture is ready is to check if the paste that is being created does not stick to the sides of the bowl. If you want the mixture to be even finer, use a kitchen robot when it is already married. If so, it will already be perfect. If you choose to use food coloring, you will need to add it to the water before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients so that the salt paste acquires color.
- We already have our salt paste ready. It’s the perfect time to start shaping it. You can start making your designs without any fear.
- When you have made them, you will have to let the salt paste dry for approximately 15 hours at room temperature. After this time, we can cook our pieces in a preheated oven at 100º until they are hard. It will take us more or less time depending on the number of figurines you have prepared.
- And, as it could not be less, the fun continues! If we have not used food coloring in the base of our dough, it is time to start painting! Choose the colors you like the most and make the funniest combinations you can think of. You will have a few more hours of fun painting and many more playing with all the dolls that you make to measure. What more could you want?
Tips for Making Salt Dough
Last-minute advice.
- Making salt pasta is not only entertainment for the little ones in the house. If you think about it a bit, it can also become the ideal complement to weddings. Can you imagine giving small dolls handmade by you and your future partner to all your family and friends? You could even cheer up and make yourself the wedding dolls that are placed on top of the cake.
- Salt pasta can be the way to turn any celebration into something much more personal and caring. In addition, you can ask all the children you know to help you with their preparation. I assure you that no one will say no to you!