Salt Dough

Mia's salt dough craft ideas will show you how to make your own beautiful homemade ornaments. You will find most of the ingredients and materials you need for these projects in your kitchen. 

The main ingredients are inexpensive and once you have made a batch of dough it will keep for weeks in the fridge.

Experiment with your salt dough try adding more flour or more water. 

Try different thicknesses of dough and how it behaves during the baking process.

Don't worry about making mistakes as the ingredients are cheap and the dough can be re-used over and over again until you bake it.

Salt Dough ~ Quick Links

Click on one of the images below to take you directly to the craft tutorial page or scroll down to find out a bit more about each craft before you decide.

A Salt Dough Recipe

Mia's easy recipe just requires flour, salt and water.

The general baking instructions are on this page.

Each of the projects have their own specific baking instructions depending on the thickness of the dough.

You will also find lots of useful tips and techniques.

You will find that you already have most of the ingredients and materials you will need in your kitchen.

As with all my handmade craft ideas there are easy to follow with step by step instructions and photo's.

Add Color

Mia will show you the easiest way to make colored dough with step by step instructions and photo's.

Colored dough can save a lot of time when making ornaments as it's so much easier than painting the finished item.

This recipe is really easy to follow and gives great results for your salt dough crafts.

You can use powdered paint or acrylic paint both will give good strong vibrant colors using just a small amount of pigment.

How To Make Beads

Dough art beads are easy and cheap to make and you can make them in a whole range of different shapes and sizes.

You can color them by either coloring the dough before making the beads or painting them after baking.

With my craft ideas you will be able to make affordable handmade jewelry that's unique and unusual.

How To Make Candle Holders

Let Mia show you how to make candle holders with this project.

These step by step instructions can easily be adapted to make a whole range of different candle holders.

I have used a tea light candle but once you've got the idea you can use the same technique for any type of candle.

How To Make Pendants

Learn how to make dough pendants and create your own affordable handmade jewelry.

We will show you how to make jewelry and how easy it is to create original and unique pendants from salt dough.

Combine your pendants with our dough art beads to make your own stunning necklaces.

Make A Bowl

Learn how to make dough bowls using my easy step by step instructions.

These small bowls are really easy to make and look great filled with potpourri.

The bowls are not waterproof but will hold anything that's dry.

Once you have had a go at these little ones you will be able to make larger bowls for things like fruit or jewelry.

Egg Cup

These egg cups make a great Easter project but are fun to make any time of the year.

They look great with a real boiled egg or use them to display your chocolate Easter eggs.

The egg cups are not waterproof but will wipe clean with a damp cloth if you varnish them well.

Fairy Plaque

Mia's fairy plaque instructions are easy to adapt to make a whole range of ornaments.

This beautiful fairy plaque will look great on a little girl's bedroom wall.

You can change the subject matter easily, the fairy can become a little girl or boy.

The same technique is used for teddy bears or animals too.

Pretty Roses

These pretty roses are a little trickier to make.

These lovely roses are made from dough recipe that has been colored red.

You can use these roses to decorate any of your homemade craft ideas.

Flower Plaque

This flower plaque looks fantastic and makes a great gift.

These plaques will look great hanging in your kitchen or bathroom.

You could make several small ones and make them into a mobile to hang by a window.

Sheep Sculpture

Mia's sheep sculpture is fun and can be adapted to make a whole range of ornaments.

This little sheep is so cute he will capture the heart of any animal mad child.

You can easily adapt this basic salt dough sculpture into any type of animal, make the ears stick up or droop down for a dog.

You'll soon be making your very own dough art for yourself or to give as gifts.

A little History

It is believed that even the Egyptian's made figurines out of dough as offerings to keep their Gods happy.

Dough ornaments have been used to decorate Christmas trees for a long time.

It is thought that normal bread dough was used to begin with but this would attract vermin into peoples homes.

Lots of salt was added to the bread mix to help it keep longer and make it less tasty to the wildlife.

Mia’s Craft Ideas

Make small shapes and glue a brooch pin to the back when you have finished painting and varnishing to make a badge.

It is really easy to make Christmas tree ornaments from salt dough.


Just roll out the dough and use pastry cutters to cut out the shapes you want. Bake on a low heat for 4 hours or overnight, paint and varnish like any of the other projects here.

What would you like to do now?

Return to top of our Salt Dough page where you can choose one of Mia’s craft ideas from the navigation bar on the left.

Visit Mia’s Craft Ideas home page to find out more about our website and Mia’s free craft ideas.

Mia's Craft Ideas is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

New! Comments

Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.