Stars with Salt Dough

Materials : 

• Tracing Paper

• Pencil

• Salt Dough

• Rolling Pin 

• Craft Knife

• Fine Grade Sandpaper

• Acrylic gesso

• Emulsion (latex) paints

• Paintbrushes

• Glue

• Baking Tray

• Polyurethane matt varnish

Method of Preparation : 
First prepare the salt dough to make the decoration. Mix together 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt. Add 1 cup of water gradually to the mixture until it is stiff but not sticky. Knead the dough for about ten minutes until it is smooth and manageable. Roll the dough out on a roller or a flat surface with a rolling pin in 1cm thickness.

Trace the pattern of a star in a piece of thick paper, place it on the rolled dough and cut out the star patterns. Smoothen the edges with a moistened finger. Allow the stars to dry thoroughly for a few days or place the stars, on baking parchment, on a tray and bake at 120oC/250oF/Gas 1.2, for five hours. Allow to cool. 

Sand all of the baked stars with fine grade sandpaper.

Paint each star with acrylic gesso and allow to dry.  Decorate the stars with a coat of emulsion (latex) paint as a base colour. Allow to dry thoroughly. Even small round bits of the dough could be added on top of the stars as decorations. Apply five coats of varnish. Make holes with a needle and pass a thread or satin ribbon through the stars and hang them from your Christmas tree.

Store your stars in a dry place as exposure to heat or dampness could spoil them.