Salt Dough Holiday Penguin Tutorial

I love to try making my own holiday decorations. One of my favorite craft mediums to work with it salt dough. It is so easy to make and the crafting possibilities are endless.

I had visions of a majestic salt dough deer that I could put on my mantle and paint a glittery silver. That one was not meant to be. The dough was entirely too heavy and the legs kept collapsing. If I were going for Bambi skidding on ice, that would have worked.

By the time the legs fell off for the third time I was pretty annoyed. So, I scrapped the deer. As I sat back trying to think of a leg-less, holiday-ish animal, it came to me. A chubby, bottom heavy penguin.

I knew this guy would only benefit from gravity pulling him down. This is a step by step tutorial to show you how to make one of your own.

SALT DOUGH HOLIDAY PENGUIN TUTORIAL

Materials:

• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• Black, white and red paint
• 2 pipe cleaners

Directions:

Step 1: Sift the flour and salt together. Stir in 1 cup of water. Mix until incorporated. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.Make a cone shape and pinch the backside to form a tail.

Step 2: Take a pipe cleaner, fold in half and twist together. Split the pipe cleaner halfway down to make a fork. (These will be the feet). Flatten little pieces of dough to cover the pipe cleaner feet. Make three smaller pieces for toes and squish them on.

Step 3: Make a ball and then pinch a beak shape on the front side of the head. Make two very small balls for eyes, push onto sides of head.

Step 4: Create two wings. Make little balls and flatten them with your thumb. Make the ball into a tapered oval shape. Cut two small pieces of pipe cleaner and push it into the wing. Then push the wing into the cone body.

Step 5: Once you are happy with the shape of your penguin, set the ove to 250 degrees. Bake your penguin for 2 hours. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for 6 hours.

Step 6: Paint your penguin with the white paint. I suggest painting at least 3 coats on the penguin. This will fill any cracks and make a smoother painting surface.

Step 8: Decorate your penguin with paint. I painted a black coat, red bow and pink feet for my penguin. You can be as detailed as you like. Try different patterns and designs. If you are not confident with a paintbrush you can always spray paint your penguin a solid color!

Thanks for Reading!
Daniele

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