Bright white dough

Ingredients 2 cups bicarbonate of soda 1 cup cornflour 1 cup water _____ Combine baking soda, cornflour and water in a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the ingredients have dissolved.

Method Continue to stir until the mixture thickens Once thick remove from the heat and transfer to clean, corn-floured surface Wait for it to cool down and then knead it. Do this quickly, if you dally here the mixture will become too brittle

Method You can now roll out the dough to be cut. You need to aim for a smooth, shiny finish. Because the dough can become brittle quickly you may not be able to re-roll it. Plan carefully how to cut your shapes.

Method The items are dried rather than baked and the oven temperature is very low. This means you can safely use jewels, sequins, mirrors, beads, rubber stamps or letter punches to decorate them. As the items are fragile, decorate them on the baking tray. This means you wont have to transfer them when adorned and heavy.

Method Dont forget to make hanging holes. Drinking straws are a perfect size Bake finished creations on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. They take about 2-hours at 75C. You can turn them half-way (or not!) Leave to cool in the oven.

Method Once completely dry you can paint and/or varnish them and finish with brightly coloured ribbon. These ones were stamped before they were baked.