Keeping Small Hands Busy

EYES saddened by disappointment stare out the window. ‘It’s raining again,’ Kim and Leslie sigh in unison. The children run to their mother and ask: ‘Mom, what can we do today?’

After an automobile accident little Nicki was confined to bed for two weeks. “It was hard on her,” recalls her mother wistfully. “For a while there was nothing for her to do and she really got depressed.”

Christy, aged ten, saw other youngsters at school every day. But when she returned home, there weren’t that many around to play with. “My folks said I had to learn to entertain myself.”

Fathers and mothers everywhere wonder how they can keep the small hands in their family busy with wholesome activity. Perhaps one of the many solutions to this problem could be an inexpensive, easy-to-learn art form using bread dough.

‘I’ve never heard of bread-dough art before,’ you may say. ‘What is it, anyway?’ Bread dough is a claylike substance that can be used to create all manner of household decorations. The dough can be prepared in two different ways. In one method, flour, salt, and water are mixed and then baked in an oven, producing Baker’s Clay. The other method is a no-bake variety that uses bread and glue as its ingredients. Since both kinds of dough look and smell good, your children may be tempted to taste them. But please remember to instruct your children: DO NOT EAT THE DOUGH!

So You’re Not a Michelangelo? That’s Okay!

Now if the aspiring artist in your family can’t wait to get into those mud pies or is a natural at working with clay, then he or she is, without a doubt, a prime candidate for this delightful craft. But what about that child who would rather bury his nose in a book or the one who would prefer being out-of-doors playing ball? Could he, too, find satisfaction in working with bread dough? Well . . .

Jason and Jesse are brothers. While Jesse thrills over anything having to do with art, Jason could do without it. What was the outcome when both were asked to spend a little time working with this unique art form? They thoroughly enjoyed themselves! In fact, said their father: “That’s all they talked about for a whole week!”

But is working this clay really so simple that anyone can enjoy it? Yes, it is. Ethie Williamson, author of the book Baker’s Clay, explains: “The most inexperienced amateur or the smallest child knows instinctively how to handle the clay.” Molli Nickell, another expert on bread-dough art and author of This Is Baker’s Clay, agrees: “No other craft medium is so versatile or requires less knowledge and so few tools.” Therefore, fathers and mothers, why not make it a family affair? Are you willing to try it? Then we will consider the bread-and-glue method.

From Bread to Dough

On Mixing: Not many books on the subject describe the mess you are about to get into, so you might as well take a deep breath. Take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and knead the whole wad in the palm of your hand. If you imagine that it’s going to be sticky you are oh, so right. But cheer up! In about ten minutes it will form a nice, neat little white ball somewhat smaller than your fist and any residue on your hands should peel off or wash away.

On Coloring: While adults may find the natural look of bread dough appealing, most children will want to dress theirs up in bright, splashy colors. It’s yours to choose, then, whether you are going to color the dough beforehand or you will make the item first and color it later. To precolor the dough, you may use watercolors, acrylic paints, or food coloring in liquid or paste form. Or​—go ahead—​be adventurous! Spice up the dough by trying natural products such as coffee, cinnamon, paprika, or yes, even mustard. Assemble a whole palette of colors by separating small portions of dough from the mother lump and kneading a different color into each one. Did you add too much? That’s easily remedied by diluting it with more of the uncolored dough. Already-made pieces can be painted with acrylics and watercolors that come in tubes, as well as with inks, fabric dyes, and tempera.a And if these cost more than you would like to spend, get only white, black, and the three primary colors of red, yellow, and blue, and combine these to mix up any color you desire.

On Designing: With the various pieces of dough arrayed before you, what do you do next? Experiment​—and have fun doing so! The dough is malleable. You can pinch it, mold it, stamp it, flatten it, braid it, cut it, and coil it. If you place it between two pieces of waxed paper and roll it out with an unbreakable drinking cup you can make it very thin indeed without breaking or cracking it. Exciting designs can be created with ordinary household implements, so ferret out from among your possessions tools that may be used for imprinting the dough. Pencils, forks, cookie cutters, combs, screws, paper clips, and orange peelers, for example, do very nicely. A garlic press is just the thing for making “hair,” and it is certain to intrigue the little ones. (Parents, please closely supervise your children so that all tools are used properly and safely.)

‘But what shall I make now?’ you may wonder. Well, the possibilities are endless! Why not start off with a set of simple napkin rings for Aunt Lilly, a key fob for Dad, or a plaque for the wall? Does the little miss like baubles and bangles? She can make her own beads for a necklace or she can fashion flowers into a beautiful pin or a brooch for Mom. (Please refer to the box on this page, which gives instructions on how to make a rose.)

On Drying: When they are ready, put your creations on a paper plate somewhere out of the way and let them air-dry for a couple of days, not forgetting to turn each piece over halfway through this period. Beads, by the way, dry out fine on greased toothpicks poked vertically into a Styrofoam base. But if you don’t have Styrofoam, a small cardboard box will serve just as well. The dough must be kept free from moisture and humidity, otherwise your pieces will mildew and disintegrate. Therefore, if you have some thicker pieces and you are not sure that they are dry, you will do well to let them dry for another day.

On Sealing: Do you parents cherish items made by your little ones? Then you will be happy to know that when properly sealed, bread dough will keep for many years. Says one authority on bread-dough art: “A final sealer must be transparent and nonpenetrating so it fortifies the surface with a hard protective coating.” To achieve this kind of protection, use a minimum of three coats of brush-on sealer such as varnish, lacquer, shellac, or polyurethane.b Clear nail polish is also very good. It is better to use three coats thinly applied than one or two thick ones. Also, since the drying time varies with each kind of sealer, don’t neglect to follow the instructions printed on the labels. One surprising bonus that comes with sealing the finished product is that it closely resembles porcelain or ceramic. It’s so beautiful you have to see it to believe it.

Child’s Play to Serious Business

“The most innovative project with bread dough by a sculptor today is the bronze fountain at the front entrance of the Hyatt Hotel on Union Square in San Francisco installed in 1970,” writes Dona Z. Meilach. “How is bread dough involved in a bronze fountain? Sculptor Ruth Asawa, the mother of six children, was always interested in keeping small hands busy. Through a series of professional experiences she evolved the idea of casting a bread-dough model in bronze using the same procedure known for centuries as ‘lost wax casting.’” (Italics ours.)​—Creating Art With Bread Dough.

Granted, most of us will never become famous as sculptors and artists, but you may be surprised at your hidden ability. One Canadian woman, for instance, started out making soap carvings with her little girl. Then she went on to “squishing fresh white bread between the fingers and shaping it into different forms.” Her daughter is grown now, but what has resulted from this “child’s play”? For the past four years the mother has had a regular business selling her bread-dough artwork to several boutiques. (Does this suggest part-time work to you?) “Be patient and improve your own technique,” she explains. “You get better as you do it.”

With any hobby or craft, of course, it is easy to get too involved. Bread-dough enthusiasts know how rewarding this craft can be and how easy it is to let the dirty dishes pile up and to forget to clean the house. But if you adopt “moderation” as a byword, you can still spend many happy moments with your child, discovering together the joyful versatility of the art medium called bread dough.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 25]

Basic Recipec

3 slices of white bread

3 tablespoons nontoxic liquid white glue

3 drops lemon juice

Instructions: First, remove the crusts. (You can save these for use in bread pudding or stuffing.) Next, tear the white portion of the bread into small pieces and put these into a medium-sized bowl (shredded bread is fluffy and needs a bit of room). Finally, add the glue and lemon juice, and knead everything together.

[Footnotes]

[Box/​Picture on page 26]

How to Make Roses and Leaves

1. Pinch off a small piece of dough, then flatten it and shape it into a roundish rectangle. Bring the ends around so that they meet and overlap.

2. Pinch off a larger piece of dough and squash it between the fingers to make it petal-shaped.

3. Wrap this around the first piece so that it stands rather upright but a little away from the center piece.

4. Do two more petals this way, following step three.

5. Once the center piece and three petals are aligned, make other petals, larger still, wrapping them around so that they lay at a flatter angle.

6. Making leaves is simple and fun to do. Pinch off a small bit of dough and make a leaf shape with your fingers.

7. Use an instrument with a very thin edge and carefully vein the leaf. Do not cut through the dough.

After a while you will settle upon your own technique. But to begin with, make roses with only a few petals, as too many petals give the flower a crowded look. For variety, crimp the outside edges of the petals so that they curl under realistically.

[Box on page 27]

Helpful Hints

• Use bread one to three days old.

• Before kneading, work some hand lotion into your hands to help keep the dough from sticking.

• Refrigerated and stored in a plastic bag inside a plastic container, bread dough will keep for weeks. Put any unused portions of dough in a plastic bag to keep it moist and pliable.

• If the dough tends to dry out while you are working with it, knead in a few drops of water or white glue.

• Add dough onto dough by gluing. Or crosshatch the area where the pieces will meet, brush with water, and then stick them together.

• A garlic press will break if you overload it, so teach the children how to use it properly.

• If you paint your piece after it has been made, be very sure that the paint is dry before attempting to seal it.

• Do not place bread-dough articles in very humid areas such as the bathroom or over the kitchen sink. Clean each piece by wiping it off with a slightly damp cloth.