Last time we created an Easter Chick to sit on the table by each place. After each Chick is finished it should be coated with a clear acrylic spray, then personalized with an extra fine tip permanent marker! A nice little keepsake, especially if you put the year 2007 on it.
Today I’m going to write about making a standing lamb dough placecard for the Easter table.
You’ll use the same recipe for the dough materials found at www.calliopedesigns.com – making your own dough ornaments at home.
Mix up some white, black, a tiny bit of pink and a tiny bit of blue. The white should be soft, almost sticky as we are going to use the garlic press. The other colors can be medium hard.
It might be fun to have a little jingle bell to put on a collar around the lamb’s neck, but it’s not a necessity.
Tools: a toothpick, garlic press, sharp kitchen knife, and alum. foil
Again, you won’t want this little item to be too big! It will take too long to bake, and they are cuter when they are small.
The first piece to make would be the white body. Take about 2 T of white dough and roll it into a ball, then into an oval shape. Set aside.
Make the legs. These four legs will be the same size. Because they will be holding the lamb’s body and head, we will want them to be oversized in a way… sturdy. And bigger at the base than the top. (These lambs are going to be whimsical in appearance!) So make a fairly large ball of dough – roll it until round and smooth. Set it down on the table and cut it in half. Roll each half into a ball again and set them down and cut each in half. Now you have four pieces just about exactly the same size.
Roll the four pieces of dough into balls, then set the balls on a smooth surface and roll each into a cone by using the tips of your fingers and pressing down slightly on one end so it becomes smaller as the other stays the same.
You should have four legs (cones) hopefully with large bases (the feet). Set these four pieces standing up, close together and press the white body on top. Make sure it will stand up. The legs don’t have to be very tall, maybe only 1 ” or so.
Make a little black ball and roll it into an 1″ long snake – and press on to the bottom end of the body (for a black tail).
Take about 1 T of white dough and make a ball, then a football shape, and press into the body for a head. Make black ears – the same way you did the tail – a ball of black, cut in half, rolled and pinched into ear shapes. Press those on to the white dough head.
Now comes the fun part! Practice pushing dough through the garlic press. Just push out about 1/3-1/2″ of dough, and swipe it with the toothpick. The dough pieces will stick to the toothpick. Then lay the toothpick on to the white body of the lamb and pull the toothpick away leaving the dough fleece on the body. Continue over and over until you have covered the entire body of the lamb, the entire head, and the little tail and ears are sticking out.
To make the blue eyes, take a tiny bit of blue dough. Roll it into a ball, cut the ball in half. Make two tiny balls. Place them on the table. Stick the toothpick right into the center. The eye will stick to the toothpick. Touch the blue eye to your tongue, then stick the toothpick into the lamb’s head where you want the first eye to be…. repeat with the second eye.
Same process with the pink nose. You can make two nostrils or one – whichever is cuter to you.
Bake in a 225 degree oven until completely hardened. Spray with a clear acrylic coating. There is no place to personalize the lamb unless you want to cut out a flat piece of dough – perhaps a heart shape, and bake it on to the lamb’s side. Then spray and personalize.
Have fun!