SPRINGERLE EASTER EGG ORNAMENTS USING COLD PORCELAIN CLAY

Feeling crafty? Springerle Easter Egg Ornaments made from cold porcelain clay are a great choice to make – they’re easy, beautiful, durable, and they make a great gift or decoration. You may even have all of the ingredients on-hand. Our Rabbit in Easter Egg springerle cookie mold is the perfect design for this project. Painted white on a colored background, the Rabbit in Easter Egg springerle cookie mold offers a simple and delicate look to these beautiful Springerle Easter Egg Ornaments. Hang them up as a decoration, tie around a bouquet of flowers for a gift or centerpiece, or hang onto Easter baskets for an added special touch. However you choose to use them, these little Springerle Easter Egg Ornaments will make a big impact!

Everything you need to make the cold porcelain clay you may already have in your home. We didn’t have the Elmer’s glue on hand, and had to go to several stores before we found it. A lot of stores were sold out of it due to the ever popular “homemade slime” recipe that school kids have been making! Well, this is a more grown up version that your kids can help you with!

This recipe is so easy to make. Just put all of your ingredients (with the exception of the baby lotion) into a microwave safe bowl and mix together until you have a smooth paste. Then, microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. We repeated this process 3 times, but microwave ovens vary so the number of times you repeat this process may be different. Be careful – the bowl will be hot.

As you microwave the ingredients, they will become more and more pasty and dough-like. Carefully remove the (hot) dough from the bowl and place on a surface covered in cornstarch. At this point, the dough is going to be quite sticky. Rub the baby lotion over your hands to prevent the dough from sticking and to help add a silkiness to the dough as you knead it. Knead the dough until it becomes a smooth ball. This may take a while! Yes, you can totally count this as a mini arm workout!

When the dough becomes very smooth and silky and forms peaks when pulled apart, you are done kneading. Lay a piece of plastic wrap down on your counter and cover lightly with baby lotion. Wrap your dough in the plastic wrap tightly and then place it in an air-tight zip lock bag. The dough will need to rest overnight (or at least 8 hours) before using.

Food coloring, acrylic paint, or markers can all be used to color your dough. When using with your favorite springerle cookie mold, we suggest using food coloring so that your cookie mold remains food-safe. The color will darken slightly as it dries – keep this in mind when mixing in your color.

Now comes the fun part! Take your Rabbit in Easter Egg springerle cookie mold and generously dust the surface of it with cornstarch. Using your #8 dough thickness guides, roll out your cold porcelain dough and make your impression with your springerle cookie mold. If you aren’t getting a detailed enough image by pressing the mold into the dough, you can flip mold and dough over together so that the dough is on top of the mold. Then, gently press the dough into the mold with your fingers. Cut the impression out with your matching custom cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet to dry. Use a pastry brush to gently brush off any excess cornstarch.

We used a coffee stirrer stick to poke a hole for our ribbon. After the image has completely dried (at least 3 days), we used acrylic white paint on the relief to finish our Springerle Easter Egg Ornaments. Tie with ribbon and voila!

Springerle Easter Egg Ornaments using Cold Porcelain Clay

Ingredients

1 cup cornstarch
1 cup white glue (like Elmer’s Glue)
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (fresh lime juice or vinegar can be substituted)
1 Tablespoon olive oil (or baby oil)
Hand lotion

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Mix well. The ingredients should form a smooth paste.
Microwave on high for 30 seconds.
Take the bowl out of the microwave and stir well.
Place back in the microwave for 30 more seconds.
Stir again. Place back in the microwave for an additional 30 seconds.
Carefully remove the mixture from the bowl. Be careful, the dough will be hot!
Place the dough on a cornstarch covered surface and start kneading until dough becomes a smooth ball. This can take up to 10 minutes. The dough can be quite sticky. Cover your hands with lotion before starting the kneading process. This will help with the smoothness of the dough and keep it from sticking to your hands.
Place your dough on a piece of plastic wrap that has been covered with a thin coat of lotion. Wrap tightly and then place in an air-tight zip lock bag.
Let the dough rest over night (or at least 8 hours).
You can color the dough with either food coloring, acrylic paint, or markers. When using with your favorite springerle cookie mold, we suggest that you use the food coloring so that your molds remains food-safe.
Please keep in mind that if you color the dough, the color will darken as it dries. Images also shrink a bit when they dry. Allow at least three days for the images to completely dry.
When making your impression using your springerle cookie mold, dust the surface of the Rabbit in Easter Egg cookie mold with cornstarch before making the impression. Cut out the Rabbit in Easter Egg impression to desired shape and place on a parchment line baking sheet for drying. Use a pastry brush to gently brush off any excess cornstarch.
We used a coffee stirrer stick to poke out the hole that we threaded our ribbon through. After the image completely dried, we then used acrylic white paint on the relief to finish our Springerle Easter Egg Ornaments.