When I was a kid, I didn’t have the vast selection of toys that kids have nowadays. But I had Play-Doh™, and I was happy. I loved the bright colors it came in, and I loved the way it smelled. I think it rather stinks now, but that just shows how some things change when you evolve from a child into an adult.
I remember playing around one day with my Play-Doh when I got the bright idea to make a dog. My formed dog didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. So, I got a cookie cutter from the kitchen. Not just a shaped cutter. The cutter I chose had
ridges inside it so the dog would have details- a nose, mouth, tail, wrinkles, and spots. I sunk that cutter into into a flat, pressed out blob of dough. Then I carefully peeled it out of the cookie cutter. I was quite pleased with the results! I laid it aside so it could harden. Then, I painted my dog. A young friend of mine had just lost her little Beagle, so I presented my Play-Doh dog to her so she wouldn’t feel so sad.
Since then I’ve made all kinds of things out of the squishy mixture. I especially like to make homemade holiday ornaments. When you hear the term “holiday”, I know you immediately think of Christmas. But you can make ornaments for other celebratory times of the year too. You can make hearts, Cupids, and roses for Valentine’s Day; green shamrocks and leprechauns for Saint Paddy’s Day; bunnies, eggs and lambs for Easter; flags for Memorial Day, and so on.
Being that I still dislike the peculiar smell, and I don’t like to run out to the store everytime I feel a creative urge, I started making my own modeling dough. It’s really quite easy. It’s stickier than Habro’s secret Play-Doh formula, but it’s cheaper to use. And, it doesn’t smell at all.
Place four cups of plain white flour, a cup and a half of hot tap water, and a cup of salt into a large mixing bowl. You can add some food coloring if you wish. Since I paint my creations, I skip the food coloring.
Then, mix the ingredients up well by using a long-handled spoon. If the dough feels too sticky, add a little more white flour to the mixture. If you accidentally add too much flour, you’ll need to moisten the dough up with a tad more water.
Remove the homemade dough from the mixing bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough with your fingers until it’s thoroughly mixed. Feels like you’re making homemade bread, doesn’t it? Since the ingredients are all natural, you could eat it, but it would be rather tasteless.
Now, grab a handful of the dough and flatten it out with a rolling pin. Use cookies cutters to cut out the designs you want. I have to add something here- if you want, you can use the plain form-making cutters. Because, you can always paint or decorate them however you wish. You can use colored markers or acrylic paints to add details such as noses, mouths, ears, et cetera. And, since this formula is stickier than Play-Doh, it’s harder to peel out of the detailed cookie cutters.
Carefully remove each cut out from the remaining dough with a metal spatula. Poke a small hole in the top of each design. Then lay them flat on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave each plate full of decorations for approximately two minutes. Allow them to cool completely before you decorate them.
If you’re looking for a way to make some extra cash, you can always make and sell your homemade holidays ornaments at work, at craft shows, at church bazaars, and other places.
