Learn how to make a beautiful, simple salt dough heart garland in this easy DIY step-by-step craft tutorial with photos.
Salt dough is a natural play doh alternative, made with flour, salt, and water.
It can be used as a malleable dough to manipulate and play with, or it can be used and hardened to make items like a circle salt dough ornament or heart-shaped salt dough ornaments.
To get the dough to harden, it can be baked in a low-heat oven or left out to air dry for several days.
Recently, we made salt dough hearts for a cute Valentine's Day ornament. Today, we are going to take a handful of hearts and string them together to make a beautiful salt dough heart garland.
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Why You'll Love This Craft
- Salt dough has so many uses! It can be used as a fun play dough alternative that is non-toxic and cheap to make.
- You can also make so many different crafts with salt dough, like the ever-popular salt dough ornaments, or a salt dough garland perfect for winter.
- Salt dough can also be used to make kids' handprint ornaments which are a fantastic handmade gift idea for grandparents.
Craft Supplies Needed
- Flour - 2 cups.
- Salt - 1 cup.
- Water - 1 cup.
- Mixing Bowl and Spoon - Big enough to mix all the dry and wet ingredients.
- Cutting Board - To roll the dough out, for cutting out the shapes.
- Rolling Pin - Get the dough thin and smooth.
- Heart Cookie Cutters - For cutting shapes out of the salt dough.
- Cookie Sheet - To put the salt dough shapes on for baking.
- Parchment Paper - For protecting your baking sheet.
- Drinking Straw - To make the holes in the top of the salt dough hearts.
- Twine - For the garland string.
- Scissors - To cut the twine string.
How to Make a Salt Dough Heart Garland
Step 1. Using this simple salt dough recipe and tutorial, make a batch of salt dough.
Step 2. Mix 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt in a mixing bowl.
Step 3. Stir in 1 cup of water, adding the water in small amounts and stirring it in thoroughly each time before adding more.
Step 4. Knead the dough for 5 minutes and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle.
Step 5. Roll the dough out using a flour-coated rolling pin and cutting board so it doesn't stick.
The salt dough should be ¼" thick or slightly less.
Step 6. Use heart cookie cutters to cut out heart shapes from the salt dough.
Place the hearts onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
Step 7. Use a drinking straw to add a hole to the top of each heart shape.
Paper drinking straws work great for this because you can throw them away after they get plugged up with salt dough from making the holes.
Step 8. Bake the salt dough hearts for 2+ hours in a 250 degree Fahrenheit oven until hard.
You can also leave them out to air dry for at least several days, depending on the temperature and humidity level in your home.
Step 9. Use pieces of twine to string through each of the hanging holes, and knot the twine close to the heart.
You are giving each heart a small hanging string, which will be threaded onto a longer twine string to make the garland.
Step 10. Trim the extra twine from each salt dough heart.
Step 11. Cut a long twine piece.
String on each of the hearts.
Step 12. Tie loops at each end of the twine hanging string.
Your salt dough heart garland is finished!
Common Questions
All you need to make salt dough is flour, salt, and water! That's it!
Yes! As long as you keep the proportions of ingredients the same, you can double, triple, or halve the salt dough recipe.
Double Batch: 4 cups flour, 2 cups salt, 2 cups water.
Triple Batch: 6 cups flour, 3 cups salt, 3 cups water.
Half-Batch: 1 cup flour, ½ cup salt, ½ cup water.
Both methods work well to dry out the salt dough. Baking salt dough in the oven speeds up the drying process dramatically, and you could have finished ornaments in a few hours. The air-drying process takes a lot longer but is handy if you're not in a rush and can just set them aside and forget them while they dry. Once they're dry, they should be indistinguishable. You won't be able to tell whether they were baked in the oven or air-dried.
This heart garland made from salt dough is a lovely way to decorate the mantel for Valentine's Day!
The tiny hearts can be painted if you want or left the natural light tan color.
More Garland Crafts You'll Love
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How to Make a Salt Dough Heart Garland
Materials
- Flour - 2 cups.
- Salt - 1 cup.
- Water - 1 cup.
- Mixing Bowl and Spoon
- Cutting Board
- Rolling Pin
- Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters
- Cookie Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Paper Drinking Straw
- Twine
- Scissors
Instructions
- Using this simple salt dough recipe and tutorial, make a batch of salt dough.
- Mix 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt in a mixing bowl.
- Stir in 1 cup of water, adding the water in small amounts and stirring it in thoroughly each time before adding more.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes and let it rest for 10 minutes.Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle.
- Roll the dough out using a flour-coated rolling pin and cutting board so it doesn't stick.The salt dough should be ¼" thick or slightly less.
- Use heart cookie cutters to cut out heart shapes from the salt dough.Place the hearts onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
- Use a drinking straw to add a hole to the top of each heart shape.Paper drinking straws work great for this because you can throw them away after they get plugged up with salt dough from making the holes.
- Bake the salt dough hearts for 2+ hours in a 250 degree Fahrenheit oven until hard.You can also leave them out to air dry for at least several days, depending on the temperature and humidity level in your home.
- Use pieces of twine to string through each of the hanging holes, and knot the twine close to the heart.You are giving each heart a small hanging string, which will be threaded onto a longer twine string to make the garland.
- Trim the extra twine from each salt dough heart.
- Cut a long twine piece.String on each of the hearts.
- Tie loops at each end of the twine hanging string.Your salt dough heart garland is finished!
Notes
- You can double the salt dough recipe to make a double batch, or halve it to make a small half-batch. As long as the proportions of the ingredients are kept the same.Â
- Add the water in small increments, stirring each bit of water in fully before adding more.
- Roll the salt dough out to about ¼" or thinner, before cutting with cookie cutters. The thicker dough takes longer to dry out. Thinner dries faster, but is less durable and more brittle.
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