The Homeschool Classroom

I was recently asked to begin writing a monthly post over at The Homeschool Classroom (I was told the inspiring Amy at Raising Arrows recommended me – thank you so much, Amy!).  My first post is over there today, so please go check it out.  I’m very honored to be a part of the great group of ladies there!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Craft Time – Father’s Day Salt Ceramic Paperweight

Father’s Day is less than a week away, and so today we got ourselves in gear and made little mosaic paperweights for Daddy, Papa, and Grandpa.  Who doesn’t need a paperweight, right??  So – they are not only cute, they are useful too! ;)

I found the recipe for this salt ceramic mixture in MaryAnn Kohl’s book Preschool Art.  She didn’t mention using it to make a paperweight, but she did say it will dry “rock hard” without baking.  Perfect.

Mix 1 cup of salt, 1/2 cup of cornstarch, and 2/3 cup of water together in a saucepan.  Cook and stir over medium heat until it looks like this:

Take it out and plop it onto some foil.  Let it cool.  It’s very hot, so to reduce cooling time I flattened it out:

After it’s cool, knead it several times until it’s pliable and soft.  It will be a tiny bit sticky,  but that’s ok.  This recipe made a ball about the size of a large grapefruit.  I separated it into 3 parts and rolled each part into a ball. 

At this point, M decided he wanted lunch first, so I placed the dough in a baggie to keep it from starting to dry out.  Here’s how I had the project set up for him (I put everything on wax paper so the dough wouldn’t stick to the table):  

I gave him a variety of items to press into the paperweights – buttons, sea glass (from a stepping stone kit we did a long time ago), seashells, flat glass pebbles,  and colored macaroni.

We took the balls of dough out of the baggie, then slightly flattened each one.
M had a great time choosing things to press into the dough.  He got a bit more elaborate with each one. 
Here’s the one for Daddy (done first):
Papa’s:

And Grandpa’s: Let’s hope Grandpa really, really likes seashells. ;)

These really turned out nicely.  You can’t tell in the photos, but the salt gives a bit of a sparkle.  The sparkle, along with the whiteness of the dough, makes it look kind of “beachy”, so the shells and sea glass really look nice in it.  They are like mini beach-scapes.

The men in M’s life are really going to love these… but not as much as we love them. :)

I think this “salt ceramic” would work nicely for handprints too, and could even be painted after it dries.

Have a beautiful day! :)