Ruined Salt Dough Ornaments

[spud912]

I made the salt dough hand ornaments and now they are ruined! I started them last Friday (made the dough, pushed hands on the dough and baked them). I let them finish drying over the weekend and had the children paint them with acrylic paint yesterday. Then I ruined them by varnishing them! Every website said "make sure you varnish them!" Unfortunately, some chemical reaction occurred and the varnish extracted the salt from the dough. Plus the "clear" varnish dried cloudy, yellowish, and cracked. Now I really have to scramble for a gift to the parents from their children!! Poor kids will be upset too! Has this happened to anyone else??

[safechner]

Yes, I had it a long time ago but it is pretty heavy and yellowish which I dont like it at all. Maybe that is why it cracked, who knows. I am planning to buy a air dry clay for the kids and it works pretty good. It costs between $4-$6 and I think it is worth to spend it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CRAYOLA-Air-Dry-Self-Hardening-Clay-2-1-2lb-White/14590620

[SilverSabre25]

A quick Googling found that some people recommend using a spray varnish as the first coat, letting it dry, then using a thicker varnish.

[Meyou]

I have never varnished them. Ever. I've been making them since I was a small child. We paint them with tole paints and that's it. I have several on my tree that are 30+ years old.

[3kidzmama]

We don't varnish or seal them at all. Kids use poster paint and that's it. I make sure they are fairly thick and bake at 250 for about 3 1/2 hours. They come out fine.

[DCMom]

I have never 'varnished' them with the 'liquid-in-a-can, made for furniture' type of varnish. I DO lightly spray them with clear acrylic from Krylon just to make them shiny.

I so sorry this happened! What a disappointment ~ it sounds like they were super cute

[wdmmom]

We did ours last Thursday and Friday. I let them sit out all weekend flipping them over so they dried equally. Today we started painting them. I don't varnish. I use acrylic red and green paint and a gold glitter glue to outline the hand and write their name.

[littlemissmuffet]

That's awful. Sorry all your hard work and time went to waste. I varnish with quick-dry acrylic Krylon spray - works like a charm. No discoloring, adds a nice shine and protects the paint!