Testoplasty is a new exciting type of needlework, which involves the creation of a wide variety of paintings from salt dough. If earlier this type of needlework was intended to develop fine motor skills in children, today it is a full-fledged art form. Adult needlewomen create whole pictures from this material.

Why has dough molding become so popular? There are a number of reasons for this:

1. It is not expensive. If any other needlework, be it embroidery, knitting or drawing, requires the purchase of quality tools and materials, then this needlework requires only flour and salt;
2. It doesn't require any special skills. It is not at all necessary to graduate from an art history department or a sculpture school in order to create masterpieces;
3. It develops. Modeling contributes to the development of thinking, imagination, the ability to compose a composition;
4. It improves spatial thinking. With the help of modeling, you can learn to convey shapes, proportions and colors.

Dough modeling has been popular for a long time. The history of this needlework is rooted deep in history. Even with the advent of the first flour (about 6000 years ago), people began to sculpt various figures from ready-made dough, and later they became the first charms, along with herbs and stones.

Very often, for a skillfully molded amulet or figurine, people received an equilibrium price in gold.

Today, such paintings are very popular among craftswomen and needlewomen. Usually they consist of a canvas (a sheet of cardboard, canvas, etc.), on which various paintings are molded. They are not flat, but voluminous due to the texture of the material. Products are painted or varnished in order to subsequently decorate the interiors. Testoplasty is a full-fledged art form that you should definitely try to do!

Salt dough recipe for painting

Preparing salt dough for modeling is very simple. All that is needed is:

• flour - 0.2 kg;
• salt - 0.2 kg;
• water - 125 ml;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.

If you need to get a multi-colored product right away, then you need to add a dye that dissolves in water to this recipe.

There are two methods of kneading. Both of them are good and are chosen according to personal preferences:

1. Salt is mixed with flour until smooth (if desired, it is fluffed up with a blender), and then water is gradually poured into this mixture. The dye dissolves in water;
2. Salt and dye dissolve in water, and then flour is gradually introduced into it.

It is necessary to knead the resulting mass hard. First, the dough must be brought to such a state in which it will not stick to the hands, and then beat on a wooden or iron surface. If it starts to crumble, then you need to add water, and if it sticks to your hands, flour. After kneading, it is highly desirable to keep the finished material in the bag in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. And after that you can start sculpting.

A simple picture "Cat" from salt dough with your own hands

This work is done on a wooden background or on a cutting board. Transferring the drawing is not required, so the work is done on the basis of a sketch.

You will need:

• background or board;
• watercolor and gouache paints;
• paint brushes;
• salty dough;
• PVA glue";
• colorless varnish;

Master class with step by step photos:

How to make a picture with flowers from salt dough

"Daisies in a vase" - this is the name of this picture, and it is done quite simply.

You will need:

• cling film or cellophane;
• salty dough;
• cardboard sheet or wooden plank for the background;
• matter (optional) for the background;
• toothpick;
• tassel;
• nail scissors;
• water.

Process step by step with photo:

1. Salty dough is prepared according to a standard recipe and is divided into three parts: one is larger - for flowers, the second - for the base for flowers and the third - for a vase. A cling film or cellophane is spread on a wooden background;
2. A vase is formed from a piece of dough. She can be whatever the needlewoman wants. Here it is formed from 3 parts: the base is made from a large piece (it is rolled out and formed in the form of a vase), a stand and a handle are made from two smaller pieces;
3. With the help of a knife, a drawing was made on a vase;
4. Next, flowers are made;
5. An oval is rolled out from the second part and is located on top of the vase - flowers will be attached to it;
6. A small piece of dough is rolled into a slightly flat ball;
   
7. With manicure scissors, he is “cut” into petals;
   
8. Then, with the help of the thumb and forefinger, the “square” petal is slightly compressed and shaped. These steps must be repeated with each petal;
   
9. The result is voluminous petals;
   
10. With the help of a toothpick, veins are made on the petals;
    
11. The place where the flower should be located is slightly wetted with water and the flower is placed there. It must be lightly pressed down using the back of the brush;
12. Roll a ball from a small piece of dough - this will be the core of the flower;
    
13. The core also needs to be slightly pressed down;
    
14. And lightly prick the petals at the junction with the base with the sharp end of the toothpick so that they connect;
    
15. Repeat this procedure with all the flowers;
16. Once the painting is ready, it must be left to air dry until completely hardened;
17. As soon as the dough dries, turn the picture down with the dough on a soft surface and carefully peel off the film;
18. The background is pasted over with a coarse cloth (burlap, linen cloth) on both sides;
19. Spread the back surface of the work (i.e. dough) with glue. It is best to take the "Dragon". And, without lifting the product, attach it to the fabric. Those. the lubricated surface itself sticks to the fabric;
20. Then the work is painted with paints or varnished as desired;
21. After the paint has dried, you can attach a frame to the background.

How to make a salt dough basket painting

The picture is made on a large sheet of parchment paper - it lags behind more easily after drying, without spoiling the picture itself. You can also use cling film or do the work already on the finished background.

Would need:

• dough ingredients or ready-made salt dough;
• parchment paper - 1 sheet;
• sharp knife or stacks;
• garlic press;
• paper basket and leaves template;
• paints and brushes;
• water for wetting;
• cloves - 3-4 pcs.

Master class for creating a picture with your own hands:

Several useful tips needlewomen:

Salt dough is fun to make. You can involve children of all ages in this activity and it will become not only entertaining leisure, but also useful!

Another tutorial on making salt dough flowers is in the next video.

Salt dough modeling is an exciting activity that can bring a lot of pleasure to both little fidgets and adult uncles and aunts. Salt dough is an excellent malleable material from which you can make a lot of interesting crafts, including whole paintings that radiate the warmth of the master's hands and homeliness.

Video catalog of works and ideas for modeling

To create a real masterpiece, you will have to try hard, but absolutely everyone can master testoplasty, especially since this technique does not require any unique abilities and expensive materials. If you set a goal, you can find everything you need without leaving your home, there would be a desire. For children, making crafts from salt dough will be not only interesting, but also a very useful activity, because fine motor skills hands is directly related to the development of speech, thinking, attention, imagination, visual and motor memory, and any joint creativity brings together.

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How to make salt dough for modeling

Almost every master uses his unique recipe dough, so today we will offer several recipes at once. All recipes are good, but each is good in its own way. One is more suitable for small products, the other for large ones, the third is suitable for working with children. By experimenting with different components, you can decide on the optimal recipe.

Salt Dough Recipes

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First option: universal dough

• 1 glass of salt
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• half a glass of water

Pour a glass of salt and a glass of flour into a large bowl. Mix with a spoon. Pour half a glass of water and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Mix with a spoon and knead with your hands until smooth, like regular dough. To make the mass more plastic, we replace the water with jelly from starch. To prepare jelly, dissolve a tablespoon of starch in 1/2 cup cold water. In a small saucepan, bring another glass of water to a boil. While stirring, pour the starch solution into the boiling water. When the contents of the saucepan become transparent and thicken, turn off the heat, let the jelly cool, and then add it to the flour and salt mixture instead of water.

If the dough is too soft, at the bottom of the bowl, mix a tablespoon of salt with a tablespoon of flour. Press the dough ball into the mixture and knead. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

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The second option for simple models

• 200 grams of flour
• 200 grams of salt
• 125 milliliters of water
• (before adding to the dough, the glue must be diluted in warm water to the consistency of sour cream)

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Third option for large models

• two glasses of flour
• one glass of salt
• 2/3 cup water

You may need a little more water, the amount depends on the type of flour. In terms of density, the modeling dough should resemble softened plasticine. To prepare the dough, pour salt into hot water, wait until the salt is completely dissolved and the water has cooled. Add flour (the second grade is quite suitable) and knead the dough thoroughly.

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Strong salt dough for tiles and boards

• 200 grams of flour
• 400 grams of salt
• 125 milliliters of water
• 2 tablespoons plain wallpaper glue

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Fifth option: salt dough for delicate work

• 300 grams of flour
• 200 grams of salt
• 2 tablespoons plain wallpaper glue
• 4 tablespoons of glycerin

So that crystals do not come across in the finished product, and the surface is smooth, the salt for making the dough should be finely ground. If only coarse salt is at hand, before kneading the dough, it should be ground in a coffee grinder or diluted with the amount of water indicated in the recipe. It is better to choose inexpensive varieties of flour without emulsifiers, baking powder and other additives.

We wrap the finished dough with a film so that it does not dry out, and send it to the refrigerator for several hours. This will make the dough more elastic and easier to work with while sculpting, and it will not break on the sides.

For children, choose recipes that do not contain glue.

Uncolored dough will have a light beige color. To give the product a warm bread shade, we take half of the wheat and rye flour from the amount indicated in the recipe. It is undesirable to use rye flour alone, since the dough will turn out to be hard, inelastic and will crumble.

Using watercolor or gouache, you can paint either ready-made figures, or color the dough even at the kneading stage. Gouache paints, food colors or natural food colors are perfect for coloring the dough: fruit and vegetable juices (beetroot, carrot juice, parsley juice), cocoa, coffee. The dough of different colors is stored in separate plastic bags or jars. Just like paints, pieces of colored dough can be safely mixed to obtain the desired shade:

• blue + white = cyan
• blue + yellow = green
• green + blue = emerald
• blue + pink = purple
• white + red = pink
• yellow + red = orange
• green + red = brown

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Salt dough crafts

While the dough is cooling and reaches the desired condition, you can prepare workplace and everything you need for sculpting. First of all, we free the table from foreign objects and cover it with oilcloth. We may also need:

• a working board for rolling out the dough (you can use a piece of thick cardboard covered with a sheet of baking foil on top)
• rolling pin (can be replaced with a smooth bottle)
• knife with a thin blade
• cardboard
• pencil
• tassel
• floss threads
• aluminium foil
• various small things: buttons, corks, matches, coins - to create embossed surfaces; beads, cereals, foil - for decoration.

Almost everything is used for modeling dough: buttons and fabrics for textured prints, various seeds and cereals for original ornaments, dried flowers, fresh embossed leaves, twigs, etc. Wet fabrics and objects slightly with vegetable oil before printing so that they do not stick to the dough. Beautiful buttons, pebbles, glass beads, glass beads, beads, shreds and lace, threads and chains can not only be printed, but also “imprinted” directly into the dough. If you fire your products in the oven, make sure that the beads are not plastic, but glass, and the threads are not synthetic.

Since the dough dries very quickly in air, it must be kept in tightly closed jars on the desktop. Each time it is necessary to take exactly as much dough as necessary, and immediately fold the excess back.

Testing can be done in several ways. Firstly, you can roll out a layer of dough, cut out various flat figures from it, and then make a composition out of them. However, in order to get a three-dimensional product, it is better to mold individual parts, and then combine them into a planned composition. Wet the joints with a brush and gently press with your finger. A toothpick will help attach the head to the body.

To create a picture or a plate based on the board, first we roll out the dough one and a half centimeters thick, cut out the desired shape from it, let it dry for several days and only after that we apply the rest of the details, using the same salt dough diluted to mushy as glue states. Fresh parts are held together with a brush and water.

To make a nice frame, you can first draw a sketch on cardboard, then cut it out and stick it around with dough, and when it dries a little, attach small details.

When working with volumetric vertical figures, a wire frame should be used. Inside large bulky products, you can put tightly formed baking foil balls, boxes or jars, carefully tightened with dough so that no holes or cracks remain. In this case, the manufacture of the product will require less material, it will not deform during drying and will dry much faster.

If after work you have left unused dough, wrap it in an oilcloth or a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator. This will keep the dough from drying out and spoiling for several months.

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Drying, firing, coloring and varnishing

In order for dough products to gain strength, they must be air-dried or burned in the oven. The first option will take quite a long time, since during air drying the moisture from the product evaporates very slowly. In good weather, in one day the product will dry out only a few millimeters. It is better not to put crafts from the test on the battery, because it is likely that they will simply crack.

It is better to use the combined method - first dry the product a little in the sun, and then burn it in the oven. The product must not be baked! It should not be baked, but dried at the lowest temperature, while the oven door should be slightly ajar. In this mode, the product should be fired for one and a half to two hours until it turns red and the dough hardens. In case of overheating, bubbles and cracks will appear on the figure.

After drying or firing, salt dough products can be painted and varnished. Acrylic paints can be used for coloring, but best of all artistic gouache with the addition of a small amount of PVA glue. This mixture, after drying, will give the product a slight sheen and will not stick to the hands. Acrylic varnish is perfect for varnishing, it is non-toxic, water-soluble and dries in just 6-8 hours.

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Master class on making funny cats

There is a lot of information on the Internet about how to knead salt dough, how to sculpt it, but at the same time, few of the masters share various small secrets on working with this interesting material. Today you will learn 11 Salt Dough Craft Secrets for Beginners that will help you create more beautiful work and make it easier to work with.

Channel: Draw with children

Salt dough recipe for crafts:

• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup water (maybe more depending on the amount of gluten in the flour)
• ½ cup salt
• vegetable oil

Pour the flour, salt into a bowl, pour out the water and knead the dough. If it suddenly turns out that there is too much water, then add a little flour. You should get a dough similar to plasticine.

1. The first secret is the secret of the dough, from which figures come out that do not crack when dried.

A very common problem with salt dough products is that when they dry, they begin to crack. What can be done to prevent this from happening? To prevent the dough from drying out and cracking, you need to add a little vegetable oil to it. For the above proportions, ½ teaspoon is sufficient.

2. In order for the finished figure from salt dough to be more durable, unbreakable and unbreakable, you need to add 2 tablespoons of wallpaper glue or PVA glue to the salt dough in the proportions indicated above when kneading. Then, after drying, the figure will become more durable and it will be impossible to break it.

3. If, when kneading, you feel that the dough is too dry and when breaking it has dry edges, dip your finger in water and brush the dough a little with a wet finger at the break point. After that, knead the dough well. If necessary, repeat.

4. The dough must be kneaded to such an extent that it is not rough to the touch. Kneading salt dough takes a very long time. It is better to knead in small portions so that a piece fits in your hand. After you feel that the dough has become smooth, put it in cellophane and refrigerate.

5. If you first sculpt from ordinary dough and paint it after drying with gouache, then the painted work must be varnished. Lacquering the surface protects the finished work from moisture, and gives additional juiciness to the colors.

Since children cannot work with varnish, it is better for children to pre-color the dough and use food coloring for coloring. To color the dough, you need to flatten a piece, pour a little dry food coloring into the middle, dip your finger in water and wet the dye. Gather the flattened dough into a ball with dye inside and begin to knead and knead it. Dough with dye is kneaded faster, it is softer and more elastic than usual.

6. If you paint the finished product with gouache, then in order for it not to stain your hands in the future, you need to add a little PVA glue to the paint.

7. If you start sculpting from dough and, having rolled out the layer, you will see cracks on it, you must definitely wet your finger with water and cover up these cracks. The surface of the future product must be perfectly flat. The appearance of cracks usually means that the dough is not kneaded well.

If a crack appears on the finished figure, then drip water on the crack so that it flows inside and gently coat until smooth. The water will help seal the crack.

8. Roll out the dough to a thickness of at least 3 mm.

9. If you are making flat figures, then when the work is ready, turn on the oven to the lowest heat and, without closing the oven, dry until completely dry. Otherwise, they will be led, they will swell and lose their shape. Very often you can hear advice that you can dry the work on the battery. However, on the battery, the dough dries for a very long time. From above, it may dry out, but inside it will be damp and may later break or deform.

10. After cutting out a flat figure, the edges are uneven and rough. Dip your finger in water and smooth the edges until smooth. Then the figurine itself will be worthy of what you can give it and not be shy.

11. When cutting out figures from dough, you cannot “pull” the knife: the dough can begin to reach for it. You need to cut out with punching movements, piercing the dough around the perimeter of the figure.

In the video master class, you can also see how to make a New Year's craft from salt dough - an angel figurine to decorate gift wrapping.