Fun With Clay

Autumn loves to play with clay, but doesn't love to put it away when she's done. We usually end up with several hardened multicolored lumps of Play Doh on the kitchen floor that we have to throw away, and each time her supply gets smaller and smaller. So today we decided to try making our own clay from a recipe found on Martha's website.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon cooking oil
food coloring (optional)

In a saucepan, combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar. At this point, if your small one starts chanting "I want to do it! I want to do it!" let her do it. Add oil, 1 cup water, and food coloring as desired. When did stores stop selling liquid food coloring? I had very little on hand so our clay became a lovely salmon pink instead of red. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly--or mostly constantly while you try to unload the dishwasher--until mixture pulls away from sides of pan. Remove from heat, and let cool 1 minute. Transfer to a work surface, let cool for another three minutes if your kid yells "it's still too hot!" and knead until smooth. Store in an airtight container; it will keep for several weeks if you can manage to return it to the container every time she's done playing with it. Good luck with that.
I also got my clay on last night making these polymer clay horns for the shop. I think they'd be perfect for Halloween. The flames and skulls are my favorites.After watching me make them Autumn decided she wanted to make some for Adam and me, so she sculpted and painted these all by herself. And yes, I cropped most of my face out of the picture because I think I'm tragically un-photogenic. Oh well. Anyway, my unicorn horn is awesome and Adam nearly cried when she gave him his pair. Aren't they cute?