Tie them to gift packages, hang them on your holiday tree, give them as party favors or tuck them into Christmas stockings. Dough-art figures and ornaments are perfect for dozens of holiday occasions. And by using your Excalibur Dehydrator they are easy and inexpensive to make. What a great way to get the whole family using their creative abilities. Kids especially love to help create and paint their very own wonderful ornaments.
With the Excalibur you won’t have to worry about the cracking, breaking or browning that often occurs when you use a hot oven to make dough art. And because your Excalibur has a DOOR and Removable trays, you can even make larger items by taking out several trays, replacing the door and using your whole dehydrator as a drying chamber.
Here is the Basic Dough Recipe to Get You Started.
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 ¾ cup water
For colored dough, just add food coloring before kneading
Just combine the flour and salt. Mix in the water and knead it on a floured board for 5 to 10 minutes. (Note: The water amount may vary depending on the humidity.) The more you knead, the more pliable the dough will become. Roll out the dough and shape it into designs. Keep any extra dough in a tightly sealed container or zip-lock bag, taking out only what you can use immediately.
Cookie cutters are often ideal for cutting out dough art shapes, but you can make your own cardboard patterns by tracing outlines of items seen in magazines and books, or by using your natural artistic talent.
Cover your Excalibur® trays with Paraflexx® sheets. Put your ornaments on the trays and dry at the highest setting until they’re hard (about 2-4 hours depending on the thickness of your art.)
After your dough is dry have fun decorating! You can use any type of paint – oil, enamel, tempera, water color or acrylic. However, we recommend using acrylics because they provide the best protection by sealing out moisture.
When your paint is dry be sure to seal the art. Varnish, lacquer, and shellac will work but sometimes they affect the color. For the best sealant, get some plastic fixative at your local art or hobby shop. It sprays on, dries quickly, and comes in matte, semi-matte and glossy finishes so you can always get just the look you want.
The whole famliy will love to display their "Works of Art" for all to see..
