Salt Dough + Yarn Wall Hanging
you belong among the wildflowers
you belong on a boat out at sea
you belong with your love on your arm
you belong somewhere you feel free
- Tom Petty
You know those boho chic ceramic and fiber wall hangings you are seeing everywhere? Yeah, you know the ones. Well, we wanted to see if we could achieve the same look with a few simple materials that most of us already have in our craft stash. The dough recipe we are sharing is not your classic salt dough recipe, but it is our favorite. The one we come back to time and time again, especially around the holidays! I am pretty thrilled with the way this experiment turned out and very excited to share the DIY with you and see what you come up with!
Materials:
mixing bowl
measuring cup
medium pot
stove top
1/2 C of cornstarch
1 C of baking soda
3/4 C of water
baking sheet or pie tin
acrylic paint
paint brush
yarn
scissors
Combine 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1 cup baking soda, and 3/4 cup water in a mixing bowl and stir until it is smooth and runny.
Transfer your corn starch, baking soda, and water to a medium pot and stir over medium heat. After a couple of minutes, the mixture will begin to thicken. When it starts to look like smooth mashed potatoes, remove the pot from the heat.
Transfer the dough out of the pot and into a bowl so it can cool.
When your dough has cooled you can start to knead it and roll it into a ball.
Take a section of the dough and roll it out into a pancake. If you don't have a rolling pin (or you can't find it) you can use a smooth bottle, a glass, or even a wooden block like we did... ha ha!!
Create your dough shapes! We started by creating a circle and then we cut the circle in half. Once you have created your dough shapes you will punch two holes out--one on top and one on bottom. You can use a straw or even the back of a paint brush to do this step.
When you have completed your shapes and yarn holes you will lay them on a tray and bake. We like using the inside of a pie tin for our dough baking (pictured above). We baked our dough on 175f. We set a timer for 20 minutes and then checked our pieces and baked them for another 10. Please note that cooking times vary based on the thickness of your shapes and your oven. I suggest keeping an eye on your dough pieces.
When you pull your shapes out of the oven, let them cool fully before you paint them. We used acrylic paint and decided to leave them semi-matte. If you want a sheen on your shapes you can add a gloss or semi-gloss sealer on top.
We started by creating a large tassle. To make a tassel, begin by wrapping yarn from your elbow to your thumb. Go around and around, gathering yarn until you’ve reached the desired thickness. Cut another piece of yarn about an arm’s length and tie it at its center through your yarn loop. This will be the yarn you use to thread through clay pieces. Start with one section of yarn from the top of your tassel and thread it through the bottom hole of one of your clay pieces. Next, thread it through the top hole. Tie in a knot with the other string so that the knot is snug against the top of the clay piece. Repeat this process until you have finished stringing together your piece.
Leave a little space (to hang) and then tie another knot. Trim any excess yarn off the top and neaten up the ends of your tassle. Time to hang or wrap it up and gift it to a friend!
