Homemade Clay Ornaments
2023 Update: These are still whole but I don’t hang them up because they feel too fragile. I tried another method in 2021 and it worked so much better! Click here to see the method I used for my Handprint Ghosts. People keep finding this blog post and I just want to let you know that I think there is a better way now! I am planning on doing this exact craft this week with my kids with the new method. When that post is up, I’ll switch out the link here! Until then, order this clay on Amazon (or find it at Target or Walmart) and use it!
We tried the salt dough ornaments that everyone was talking about on Instagram but they didn’t turn out so great. They cracked pretty quickly and within a week one broke all the way in half, falling off the tree! I still loved the idea so I asked in my Instagram stories and multiple people told me to use the one that has cornstarch.
So I followed your advice and they turned out WAY better! The color is whiter, the dough is smoother, and the imprints came out much clearer. We made these fun homemade clay ornaments with Hilde’s prints. We even had some extra so when Elsie came over a couple days later we added some food coloring to the dough and brought our the cookie cutters. Also a video! We are trying to get more into video this year so I hope you like it!!
PS: They are finicky so keep an eye on them in the oven to prevent cracking.
Homemade Clay Ornaments:
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What you Need:
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup water
food coloring (for fun)
How To:
1. Stir water, baking soda, and cornstarch together in a pot over medium heat.
2. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens to look like mashed potatoes.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Move to bowl and cover (to prevent from drying) until dough cools.
5. Preheat oven to 175 degrees (Fahrenheit)
6. Kneed and roll out dough on corn starched surface.
7. Bake for 90-120 minutes.
I’m definitely making these with my daughter for her 1st Christmas! Thinking of giving them out as Christmas gifts 😁. I saw in a comment that you’d recommend sealing with mod podge? Do you have a recommendation on what kind? Clear, matte, white?
Hello Hailey! So fun!! I am going to make something again this year too now that I have three kiddos! I do! I would use a matte kind. I’m pretty sure that is the one I currently have and usually buy! If you have a hard time getting this method to work, I discovered this clay that also works really well! https://bit.ly/3tloVlW
hey there! me and my son made some of these today and i loved the recipe and the initial way they came out but they kind of curled up when i baked them 😭. was this because i rolled them too thin? i followed everything else so i wasn’t sure. just wanted to see if you had a suggestion. i’ll definitely try again! thank you 🥰
Hello! I am sorry they curled up! My guess is that they were too thin? But I am not sure as I haven’t run into that issue! You may need to just find a new recipe that works better for your oven/ climate? Haha! Just trying to brainstorm. I do also LOVE this clay for kids crafts, I used it for our ghost ornaments ( https://oakandoats.com/2021/10/spooky-handprint-clay-ghost-ornaments.html ). It may be a good fit for you: https://bit.ly/3j4c2e2 Let me know how it goes!!!
Another thought… You could let them airdry slowly. The oven mostly just speeds up the drying process.
I LOVE these and want to make them as gifts so badly! I tried today and they have a ton of cracks!! Any advice?
Hmmm!! I’m not sure since I didn’t have to trial and error that! But maybe you can try air drying them instead of the oven. It will be slower but maybe it is the faster dry that is cracking them? Another thought is that the dough may be too dry so it is cracking when you are working with it?
Would have been nice if you’d specified the oven temperature was Fahrenheit and not Celcius – I’ve completely ruined my batch 😭
Oh no Jess! 😭 Hopefully you will be able to make another batch! It honestly never occurred to me to note it as our ovens only do Fahrenheit! But I will keep it in mind for the future and update this post! Especially since it looks like this little blog of mine is reaching farther than I knew! Thanks for pointing this out to me so I can be clearer in the future! Merry Christmas!
How are these holding up now that’s it’s been a few years later? Are they still intact? Looking to make them but want to make sure they will last for many many years. Thanks!
I still have them but they are very fragile! I made some handprints with a new type of clay and they worked the best! (https://oakandoats.com/2021/10/spooky-handprint-clay-ghost-ornaments.html) They are still perfect years later. This Christmas I am making new ones with this air dry clay: https://bit.ly/49urlCq