Christmas ornaments out of soda dough > with my hands

This is something I have wanted to try since I saw some pictures on Pinterest. You can make white dough out of baking soda and cornstarch that hardens to something that resembles porcelain. It is perfect for making Christmas ornaments to decorate your tree this year. You can probably find all the ingredients in your kitchen cupboard and this dough is completely safe to use with your children. So grab your ingredients and make some lovely ornaments with them!

Recipe for the soda dough

2 cups of baking soda
1 cup of cornstarch
1 1/4 cups of water

Mix the ingredients in a pot and start heating. Mix all the time while the mixture warms up to the boiling point. Suddenly the dough changes consistency and the watery mixture turns to something resembling mashed potatoes. At that point take the pot out of heat. Take the dough out of the pot and dump it in a big lump onto a plate or waxed paper. Cover the dough with a wet towel and let it cool down.

After your dough has cooled down you can roll it and cut pieces out of it using gingerbread moulds. You can use cornstarch to keep your dough from sticking to your baking surface. If the pieces seem to break your dough may be too wet. You can add a bit of cornstarch to make the dough easier to handle.

You can use something like a cocktail stick to make details and holes to hang your Christmas ornaments.

You can also paint the ornaments or make little 3D-snowmen such my daughter S did. This cute little guy guards our gingerbread house together with two elf figurines.

Whatever you decided to make, let your pieces dry on waxed paper. Then just insert a piece of thread (I used golden one!) and a piece of ribbon to make these beautiful Christmas ornaments: