Country Doughcrafts: 50 Original Projects to Build Your Modeling Skills

Includes instructions for creating such items as mobiles, baskets, dishes, molded shapes, plaques, candlesticks, dolls, special occasion favors, and more

Salt dough, inexpensive and sufficiently pliant for many hand-modeled items, is put to good use in this attractively illustrated book. Small photographs show the tools and basic techniques described in the first chapter, then accompany the step-by-step project instructions that follow. Larger pictures, sometimes full page, show the finished items. The projects are a nice suprise. A few are tied to celebrations such as Christmas, but this is much more than a collection of cute dough decorations. You'll find a fetching assortment of wall plaques and containers, some decorated with extraordinarily detailed leaf and shell shapes. Beginners probably won't be able to replicate the elegant look Tilley and Welby achieve, but developing one's own style is part of the crafter's fun. Templates are provided. Stephanie Zvirin