Salted dough vase is a great gift for your beloved mother, wife or grandmother. When creating it, you can show all your artistic talents, moreover, it will be a very useful item in the household, in which not only artificial, but also real fresh flowers will stand for a long time.
Making salty dough
To prepare salty dough, you will need fine table salt, but not iodized salt, potato starch, wheat flour and water. There are many recipes, you can do without starch, but with it the dough will be more plastic and sticky. A large amount of salt leads to its excessive softening during prolonged use. One of the best proportions is as follows: for a glass of flour, you need to take half a glass of salt and 1 tablespoon of starch. All bulk products must be mixed, then gradually pour in plain or tinted water, carefully kneading the dough each time.
You should immediately decide how the vase will be painted. A vase made of multi-colored dough looks spectacular. To obtain it, you need to dilute the food coloring in water in advance, and knead the dough with this water. Or you can mold the product from white dough, and after firing, paint it with acrylic paints.
Making a vase of salt dough
Any plastic, glass or metal container can be used as a base for a vase. For example, it is convenient to take a shampoo bottle, plastic soda container, or any other. The top must be carefully trimmed.
To facilitate the work, roll out the dough with a rolling pin, then wrap the base with the resulting layer and close up the edges. To smooth the surface, you need to moisten your hands or tools with cold water. It is also convenient to glue parts by wetting. You can immediately apply patterns to the surface using any available items - spoons, forks, spatulas, etc.
The resulting base should be dried for one or two days in a warm, dry place. When it is strong enough, start making a salt dough vase. The neck can be decorated with a pigtail made of multi-colored dough, a thick "donut" in a contrasting color. Vases with molding or appliqué look impressive, and it can be very individual. For example, it would be appropriate for a woman who is fond of breeding fish to give a vase with their image.
Drying and varnishing
When the vase is ready, it should be dried. You can simply dry it by the battery, in this case it will dry at a rate of 1 mm per day. Or use the oven, maintaining the temperature in it at about 70-80 degrees. It is important that there are no drafts and temperature changes, otherwise the product may crack or even become covered with bubbles. To check the readiness, you need to knock on the vase with a stick. If the sound is voiced, then everything is ready, but if it is deaf, it takes more time.
The vase must be covered with one, or preferably two or three layers of varnish, otherwise the dough will be washed out with any contact with water. If it was painted with gouache, it is better to use a non-water-based varnish (for example, alkyd, PF or NC), if not - absolutely any, even nail varnish.
