I was planning on decorating for July 4th, but decided to skip it and do my summer décor instead. It actually worked out really well since I was able to do a fun craft with my girls and also make some fun baking soda dough sea art. Baking soda sea art? Yes, you heard me right...baking soda.
You've heard of salt dough right? Well, baking soda dough is sooooo much better because it's so easy to make, easy to handle, and holds up well! I hadn't even heard of baking soda dough before Pinterest and I'm so happy that someone out there was smart enough to make it. Now, I don't know where this recipe originated from since I found a gazillon recipes on the web for this, but I first learned about baking soda dough from a pin linked to Urban Bliss Life (smaller batch recipe).
Baking Soda Sea Art - Starfish
Supplies:
- Baking soda dough (recipe below)
- Silpat mat or parchment paper
- cookie cutters
- round tip needle
- paint brushes
- white acrylic paint
- tropical blue paint or paint color of your choice
- thick art paper to fit inside picture frame
- silver nail polish
- clear acrylic spray
- E6000 glue
- newspaper or something to cover your table surface
Recipe
- 2 cups baking soda
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 1 1/4 cup water
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Combine all the ingredients in a pot and heat on medium heat. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Continue to constantly stir the ingredients until the mixture begins to thicken. It will take several minutes to thicken. | |
| Step 3 | |
| When the mixture starts to come together and looks like mash potatoes, scoop it out onto a Silpat mat or parchment paper to cool down. Cover it with a damp cloth. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Once the dough is cool enough to handle, you can roll it out to approximately 1/4" thickness and use cookie cutters, stamps, shape by hand, or whatever method you want to use to decorate your cut-outs. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Bake at 175F for 45 minutes to an hour. Baking will make the ornaments turn a slightly tan color. *If you don't plan on painting the ornaments and want to keep them white, air dry for 2-4 days.* | |
| Step 6 | |
| Let the dough cool and you're ready to decorate. | |
1. Cook baking soda, cornstarch, and water in a pot over medium heat. Continuously stir until it thickens to a mash potato consistency and starts to come together.
2. Dump out dough onto parchment paper or Silpat and cover with a damp cloth until it is cool enough to handle. *Keep a damp cloth on unused dough to keep it moist while sculpting*
3. Roll out dough into 1/4" thick sheet and use cookie cutters to cut shapes or free hand design your shapes.
4. To make the starfish, take the 5 balls and use your thumb and pointer finger to shape and flatten into triangles. Take the triangles and combine them together, pinching the edges on both the front and back into the shape of a starfish. *Very important to smooth out the edges where the pieces connect or you will get seams and lots of cracks* The circles were used to make sand dollars.
5. Start to decorate your starfish. I used the round end of a pin and the end of my paint brushes to make decorations on my starfish.
6. Sand dollars were made using a circle cutter and decorated using the pin head and a butter knife. The coral was made free hand.
7. Bake at 175F degrees on Silpat mat or parchment paper for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool. *Dough can be air dried for 2-4 days.*
8. While the shapes are cooling, place newspaper or some type of covering on your table surface to protect it from the paint. Then, get creative and start painting! *I painted my starfish white and used my silver nail polish to highlight.* Let paint dry and seal with a clear acrylic spray. You can stop here and use the shapes as is or continue on to make a picture background.
9. Since I wanted to mount my starfish on a sea colored background in my shadow box frame, I painted an ombre blue background. Do this by starting with the darkest color on the bottom and gradually add white paint till you get to the top. *I tried to separate my paper into three sections and concentrated on three shades of blue.*
10. Once dry, glue the starfish on the background. Place in frame.
There you have it. A quick and easy project that is fun to do with the kids and can make beautiful summer decor for the home.
What will you make with baking soda dough?