Ammonite Salt Dough Necklaces
We love heading to Charmouth for a bit of fossil hunting and we get especially excited when we find our own ammonites so we thought we should make some Ammonite necklaces. Ammonites are a group of extinct shelled cephalopods related to today's squids and octopuses. Most ammonites died out 66 million years ago, at the same time as dinosaurs.
Ammonite Salt Dough Necklaces
Before making your ammonites spend some time researching the different species and choose your favourites to make into necklaces.
What You'll Need:
- 250g flour
- 125ml water
- 125 g salt
- string
- baking tray
- parchment paper
- beads in various sizes (we used wooden beads)
- watercolour paints
- paint brushes
What To Do:
1. First make your dough by preheating your oven to 120c and mixing your flour and salt in a bowl. Gradually add water until a dough comes together and you can form it into a smooth ball.
2. Gently roll the dough into a long sausage shape This is the main structure of the ammonite shell and is called the phragmocone .
3. Once you have your sausage shape you want to create the rib shapes by taking your string around the dough and gently hug your dough with the string making an indent.
4. Gently roll your phragmacone into the shape of your ammonite
5. Add your ammonites spines by pinching or adding dough.
6. Make a hole where you want your string to go through
7. Bake in the oven for a couple of hours
8. Now it's time to paint them! We love the effect watercolours has on salt dough.
9. Once dry it's time to add your string and the beads. This you can do in whichever way you like. And then you are finished!
