Salt Dough Geodes

Do you love salt dough? Have you ever played around with it? Recently, I've heard you can microwave it. Now, I haven't tried that but, boy oh boy, would that save time! We made this geode entirely from salt dough. Add a little paint and glitter (#flair) and viola! You will have yourself a beautiful geode that will last for a long time! So what's a little time in the oven for 10 plus years worth of geode coolness? Totally worth it, I'd say.

Gather:

*2 cups of flour

*1 cup of warm water

*1 cup of salt

*A glass to form the bottom of the geode

*Aluminum foil

*Cooking sheet or rack to place cups on while cooking

*Paint (brown or black for the exterior, white for

the rim, and whatever color you'd like for

the interior--GO NUTS!)

Create:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Mix the flour, salt, and warm water together in a bowl.

You want the salt dough to be malleable. Ideally, the dough will not stick to your fingers or crack while playing with it. If these things happen, add more flour or water respectively, to achieve the desired consistency.

2. Place aluminum foil over the bottom of two glasses.

3. Create 4 balls from the dough, making two of them larger. The larger balls will create the bottom of the geodes. The smaller balls will become the inside.

4. Place the larger balls on the bottom of the foil covered glasses.

5. Pop them in the oven for about 1.5 hours, give or take, depending on how thick you have made them. Now, I know this sounds like a long time but just think of all the things you can accomplish during this time! Dinner, laundry, diplomatic resolutions for world peace! You name it! Please do not rush the cooking process by turning the oven up! You will end up with a very unsatisfactory, unsightly(!) even, puffy geode! Is there such a thing as a pleasantly puffy geode?

This is your geode after cooking the first time. (*GASP* there is a second cooking time?)

I've trimmed the edges using a pair of scissors. This is not entirely necessary but if you have big clumps, or very thin parts, you should cut them off.

6. After the geode has baked the first round, apply the smaller balls of salt dough into the cooked bottoms. Remember the salt dough bottoms do not have to be fully cooked on the inside at this point. *see our blog post for more info on that subject!

7. Form uneven edges around the perimeter and interior of the bottom to make a realistic geode shape. Use a pencil or similar object to make deep recesses in the geode.

8. Place the geode back into the oven for an additional 1 hour or so. Pull it when the geode is hard on all exposed surfaces.

9. Allow the geode to cool prior to painting. This takes about an hour or so (again, diplomatic resolutions! World peace!)

10. Once the geode is cool begin the painting process! You, the artist, have complete artistic license here! Make them bright and bold with colors like pink and yellow! Make them subdued and lovely with grey and white. Or go for a more realistic geode by using colors like dark purple or blue.

11. To make them as realistic as possible paint the exterior a dark color, paint a white rim around the top and gradually go darker with your chosen color toward the inner center.

AND NOW...

Glitterize them!