Crafty Tutorial - Salt Dough Decorations and Diwali Lamps

 ~ By Emi

We have had a very busy couple of days, busier than usual. We've been doing a lot of home improvements, painting doors and cupboards with magnet paint and blackboard paint. We've also been learning about Diwali and getting VERY excited about Winter.

Actually, I'm the only one who's been getting excited about the last bit.

So excited, in fact, that we've started on festive decorations already. Yes, I'm well aware it's only November but I'm not going to apologise because I LOVE THE FESTIVE SEASON!

Aaaaanyway...

This Crafty Tutorial today is a twofer - Diwali lamps *AND* salt dough decorations!

First things first, you're going to need to know how to make salt dough. It could not be simpler; 1 part salt, 2 parts plain flour, 1 part water. Stir. Knead until pliable. Create.

If it's too wet, add more flour and salt. Too dry, add a little water.

Salt dough has to be one of the most brilliant creative substances in the history of the world. It is incredibly cheap to make, and is so versatile.

To make the lamps, we made simple bowl shapes, big enough to put a tea light in safely.

Then we baked them for about an hour at 180*C. While they were baking, we talked about Diwali, specifically about how Hindus light little lamps to signify the triumph of good over evil. Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust my boisterous kids or cats near oil lamps, so we substituted little candles instead.

After baking, let them cool, and then go crazy with paint and glitter and sequins! We used matt wall paint on ours from the numerous tester pots we have stashed in a cupboard, and then used pva glue to stick sequins to our lamps. And then we glitterfied the heck out of them, because frankly, you can NEVER have too much glitter.

Once everything is dried, simply pop in your lit tealight and... Ta Daa!

Beautiful.

Part Two now - Salt Dough Decorations

Because we had dough left over from our lamps, we decided to make a few festive stars! The photos are very self-explanatory, the only things you need to remember are to put holes in the top of them before you bake and then how to bake your cut-outs; 180*C for about an hour.

Cut.
Bake.
Decorate.
Hang.

We're going to make a whole bunch of these for Ru's friends at nursery, and for our own Christmas/Yule tree as they are cheap to make en mass, and he really enjoyed the process. The individual ones we'll hang on ribbon, but the ones in the photograph above will be added to one looooooooong ribbon to make a star garland.

As well as making lamps and decorations, salt dough can also be used for those baby handprint plaques that grandparents seem to love! We're going to be making some ourselves over the next few days as gifts for Stephen's parents, as they really like cute, homemade things like that.

For older children, salt dough can be used to create models to bake and then paint, so are a brilliant way of making additions for your seasons table too!


And now, I'm off to make my lovely spawn some dinner, and then we're having a special candle-lit bath tonight with our Diwali lamps and our lanterns from Monday's post.

Have a wonderful evening everyone, and Diwali blessings!

Let this diwali burn all your bad times and enter you in good times.