Salad Spinner Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

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Wow and WOW, these salad spinner Christmas ornaments are as much fun to make as they are beautiful to look at! They turned out just as I imaged them! I LOVE IT when that happens!!

This activity requires a salad spinner, if you don’t have one trust me on this, you will never use it to dry salad leaves but HELLO it makes the best art! We used it a long time ago to make firework pictures that turned out beautifully! Recently I saw these beautiful salad spinner art Christmas Cards and thought I absolutely NEEDED to make some salad spinner ornament something!!

And so we did…

Materials need to make a salad spinner ornament;

A salad spinner – you can get a cheap one here (US) (UK)
Salt dough or Air Dry Clay, here is a recipe for salt dough, here is a link for air dry clay (US) (UK)
A round piece of card stock or very heavy paper to hold the ornament while spinning
Primer – this is optional but does provide a white cover to start with and the paint will stick. (US) (UK)
Paint – needs to be runny. Kids poster paint usually works fine, but water it down a little if too thick or if you are using acrylics. (US) (UK)
String, Ribbon, Twine to hang your ornament
Spray sealer if you are using salt dough (US) (UK)
Circle (or star) cookie cutter (US) (UK)

How to make your salad spinner ornament – this is the fun part!!

First you need to make the salt dough or clay circle. You could of course make stars or other shapes if you like!
The clay needs to be completely dry – salt dough can be dried in the oven for a few hours – see instructions here, air dry clay may take a few days – follow package instructions.
As always if you are using salt dough remember that after you have painted it and the paint is dry it needs to be sealed with something like this spray sealant varnish (US) (UK) – salt absorbs water and your ornament will eventually get soggy and break – especially if you live in a humid climate – or hang it on a real Christmas Tree!
When rolling and cutting out your ornament remember to make a hole in the top before it dries, We usually do this with a straw!

I primed my ornaments – so I would start with a white surface and for a little extra protection!
When you have your dry ornament you need to secure it to a pice of card stock – this is going to hold it in the centre of the salad spinner.
The card stock needs to be round and fit exactly into the bottom of the spinner
I stuck the ornament to the card stock with hot glue, you could also use blue tack or two sided tape. Anything really sticky!

Then one or two colors at a time, squirt a small amount of paint into the centre of your ornament.
Close the lid and get spinning! The centrifugal force should push the paint to the edge of the ornament and excess off the side!

making-salt-dough-salad-spinner-ornaments

If you are working with salt dough, wait for the paint to dry and then seal it
Air dry clay can also be sealed for protection – but it is optional (like I did here with these air dry cay leaf bowls)
Once paint/sealant is dry add string and it is finished, leaving you with an incredibly beautiful painted piece of art that can be hung on the tree!