Dia de los Muertos inspired us to do some experimenting with salt dough recently. We found two recipes for dough to try, and got down to business in comparing which would fare better for some painted skulls crafts.
First up was the basic salt dough recipe which you'll see all over Pinterest as the gold standard:
SALT DOUGH
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
• Mix well
• Make your shapes
• Lay out on a baking sheet with parchment
• Bake 2 hours at 200º
Our second dough recipe claimed to be much softer and more claylike:
CORNSTARCH DOUGH
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup water
• Combine in a saucepot under low/medium heat until you reach mashed potato consistency
• Remove from heat, cover with damp cloth, and allow to cool
• Rollout the dough and make your shapes
• Bake 45 minutes at 175º
• Flip over and back another 45 minutes
In the end, the cornstarch recipe was more fun to work with, especially since it was warm and was definitely a smoother, brighter medium to sculpt. However in the end both looked exactly the same in color, texture, and weight, and both took paint equally well. Either recipe works, so choose which ingredients you have on hand. Good luck and happy crafting!
