Salt Dough Hand Casting

It was both sets of Grandparents Wedding Anniversaries last week so I decided to make something they could treasure and keep from Emmy.  I decided on Salt dough Casts of Emmy’s hands. Read on to find out how easy Salt Dough Hand Casting really is:

What you need:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1cup of salt
• 1 cup of water

(It doesn’t matter on the cup size as long as you use the same cup/container to measure all of the ingredients, I only wanted a little amount of Dough so used the bottom of Emmy’s lolly maker)

What to do:

Mix the flour and salt well together then slowly mix in the water until you have made a smooth Dough.  Turn this out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes.  It is best to leave standing for around 20 minutes before using it. (Just like Bread Dough).

As you can see it is rather sticky which only added to Emmy’s enjoyment, I actually just let her play with the mixture for about half an hour as she was really enjoying herself.

It does become less sticky once it is kneaded on the floured surface!!

Once I had left it for 20 minutes, using this time to clean up the flour and Emmy I then rolled it out and made into a circle shape, pressed Emmy’s clean hand into the dough and using a cocktail stick wrote “Emily – 18 months” on it.

I then baked it in the oven at 110 degrees (the lowest setting on my oven for just over an hour)  They can also be air dried for about 3 days! I hadn’t left myself enough time for this.

Once cooled I let Emmy paint it, added a ribbon and we had a great present for both sets of Grandparents to keep forever.