The Billy Lids

Borrow this idea from a fresh garland of fruit and create a wreath that outlives the real thing.

You'll need:

• 10cm round saucer
• Dough
• Modelling tool
• Large and very small leaf cutters
• Cloves
• Small piece of net
• Calyx cutter (from a sugarcraft store)
• Cocktail stick (toothpick)
• Blossom plunger cutter

Paint colours: Winsor and Newton - Olive Green, Rose Malmaison, Linden Green, Spectrum Red Golden yellow, Spectrum Violet, Permanent White, Lamp Black.

Here's how:

Using the saucer, draw a circle on a baking sheet. Roll half the dough into a 35cm rope. Form the rope into a ring on the circle. Join the ends with water, smooth with a flat bladed knife, then flatten the ring with your fingers to about 4.5cm wide. Make two holes through the dough, opposite the join, for threading ribbon to hang the wreath.

Roll out half the remaining dough thinly and cut out 24 large leaves. Mark veins in these and arrange randomly on the ring often overlapping the edge, leaving room for fruit.

Apples and pears

Make five apples and five pears from small balls of dough. Taper the balls to make the pears. Push a clove into the top of each one so that the stalk is left sticking out and into the bottom so the star shaped end of the clove is showing. Arrange these in pairs evenly around the wreath.

Cherries

Make two pairs of cherries and place these on either side, adding a couple of small leaves to cover the ends of the stalks. Stalks are just very thin dough ropes joined at the ends to make pairs.

Grapes and strawberries

Working directly on the dough build up a bunch of small dough balls to represent grapes, again adding a clove for a stalk. Arrange a bunch of grapes and a small group of strawberries (simply use a cocktail stick to mark a strawberry-like texture on the moulded fruit and use the calyx cutter to stamp out a top) towards the bottom of the wreath.

Blackberries and plums

Model two or three sets of blackberries and plums (note the groove down the back of a plum) and arrange these to balance your design. To make a blackberry, roll a little ball of dough and place on a piece of netting. Gather the net around the dough and squeeze out through the holes. Remove each blackberry carefully on a knife and transfer it to the ring.

Flowers

Finally, cut out a few small flowers and fix them here and there where you think they are necessary. Indent the flower centres with a modelling tool or pencil and bake at 145C for 3 hours.

Painting and Finishing

Paint patchy, watery Olive Green on the leaves so that some dough is uncovered. While still wet, paint thin Rose Malmaison over the patches and blend the colours with a clean dry brush.

When the leaves are dry, paint the fruit - first the apples (watery Linden Green followed by equally watery Spectrum Red) and pears (Golden Yellow); dry before attempting the plums and grapes. Paint plums in Spectrum Violet/Rose Malmaison.

Then paint the cherries (Spectrum Violet with even more Rose Malmaison to get a purple-red) and the strawberries (Spectrum Red). Paint the flowers first with Permanent White, then add a little watery Rose Malmaison, before they are quite dry. Blend the colour a little with a clean, dry brush. Finish by painting the blackberries in Spectrum Violet/Lamp Black.

Varnish with one or two coats of clear gloss polyurethane varnish and add a ribbon bow.

Tip: To make hanging holes, simply wobble the end of a sharp modelling tool through the dough until the hole is large enough. Alternatively a far neater hole is made by using a plastic drinking straw to remove a little plug of dough.

Note: sugarcraft is another word for decorative cake icing. Suppliers can be found in the Yellow Pages under Cake Decoration Supplies

Source: Decorative Dough Joanna Jones (Merehurst)

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Mould some salt dough into a gift for a child's door or wall decoration.

Any initial is easy.

Basics

Before you actually start modelling, it is a good idea to make a small sketch of the initial so that you can decide on the best position for any figure or other decoration such as flowers, fruit, an animal - whatever is meaningful to the person receiving it.

Letters with bars and horizontal lines, such as A, H, B and P, generally look best with the figure arranged over the bar. Letters like J, I and L usually look better with the figure leaning against the upright. There are rogue letters, such as K, W and N, but with a bit of jiggling about you will always find somewhere to fit the figure - so don't give up even if you have got a friend called Zaria!

You'll need:

• Original Dough
• Cutters, moulding tools
• Paint and varnish

Here's how:

1. First draw the initial. Make sure that your dough is particularly well kneaded when you are making this type of initial, especially when shaping a letter with curves, such as B, D or P, as these tend to crack or dent if your dough is either too wet or too dry.

2. With perfectly kneaded dough and your little preparatory sketch to hand, roll out some ropes of dough in suitable lengths for your chosen initial. The ropes should be about as wide as two fingers held together.

3. Initials made from ropes of dough always look more professional if the corners are mitred and joins at other angles are cut to fit. However, do not let this prospect frighten you, because, unlike badly mitred wooden corners, mitres in dough can be gently coaxed into perfection using a modelling tool and with a bit of squeezing. Arrange the ropes of dough into the shape of your letter, making sure that all joins are dampened before fixing them together.

4. Build up the chosen figure and any other decoration such as flowers. When you have completed the arrangement, bake the initial at 145C for 2'/2 hours. When dry varnish back and front several times.

Tip: if you only put one hook in the initial it will probably hang at a crooked angle because of the unequal weight. Two hooks in the top with a ribbon running through them is better. If the initial is destined for a child's room, and particularly for the room door, add an anchoring hook at the bottom.

Source: Decorative Dough Joanna Jones (Merehurst)

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May the 4th be with you...

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