How can I use a cookie mold to make Xmas ornaments?

Once upon a time I had a recipe for homemade play dough type stuff that worked great for Christmas ornaments cut with cookie cutters. It rolled out just like cookie dough, we cut the shapes, allowed them to dry overnight, then painted and applied glitter. I'm sorry I don't have the recipe anymore, but if you could find something like that, it would work great. I think the recipe I had just called for water, salt and flour.

years ago we used to just make cookies and spry they with lacquer

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "clay mache," and that might make a difference. Are you talking about "papier mache," or about paper mash or pulp, or something else? Those aren't usually referred to as "clays," though wet "paper pulps" can be treated like "clays" just in terms of shaping. Papier mache usually refers to a porous material (newspaper, blue shop towels, fabric, etc.) which is saturated with diluted permanent white glue or another liquid that acts as an adhesive, then laid over a form of some kind in strips or sheets, in several layers. Then there are materials that act more like "clays" than those though --like bread clay or "salt dough" clay which can be made at home ...or purchased clays like Creative Paperclay, Makins, Crayola Air-Dry clay, Model Magic, or even Celluclay? And of course, there's always earth clay (but to become really hard and less fragile, it needs to be fired in a kiln after it dries). All those above are "air-dry clays" but they'll differ in their texture, ability to achieve detail and smoothness, weight, etc. (They'll all need to be sealed after drying though because they're not waterproof.) At any rate, you can seal the terracotta molds with a water-based sealer (a polyurethane, for example), which will act as a kind of release. Or you can use oily or slippery things (veg. oil, Vaseline, glycerine, etc.) or even silicone spray (ArmorAll), etc., but those *may* leave oily spots on your molded objects, or in the case of (too much) ArmorAll not allow anything to stick to that surface later (like paint, sealer, etc). You can also just let air-dry clays dry in the molds... they'll all shrink while drying so should be easily removable at that point. Or you could use a physical barrier of some kind in the mold if that would work (a tissue, sheet of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, etc.). If you're using a *polymer* clay (Fimo, Premo, Sculpey, Cernit, etc --those are not water-based, and are completely waterproof after baking) though instead of an air-dry clay to make your ornaments, you probably won't need to use a release... or you could use a brushing of cornstarch for any brand of polymer clay or a light misting of water for all the brands but the Fimos, and Cernit too I think. Btw, most polymer clays can be made very thin --so lightweight-- and still be strong.** There's also one line of polymer clay called Ultralight which is even lighter-weight than the others that can be good for larger hanging objects sometimes--it has a slightly diff. working texture though. **except original Sculpey, SuperSculpey flesh, and Sculpey III We make loads of xmas ornaments from polymer clay in all kinds of ways --including shapes created in molds (even molds made from polymer clay), those cut from shape cutters, free-shaped ones, or even those where an object is "covered" with a thin sheet of polymer clay (empty eggshells, glass ball ornaments, etc). Almost any kind of surface designs can be created in the clay as well, and/or the clay surfaces can be made to look glittery, pearly, glassy, textured or stamped, marbled, and just way too much more to mention. If you're interested in those things, or in making and using molds in general, check out these pages at my site: http://glassattic.com/polymer/molds.htm ...click on RELEASES ...and also on any other type of mold you may be interested in using with polymer clay, or even making from polymer clay (to use later with polymer clay or other clays) http://glassattic.com/polymer/Christmas.htm ...click on these categories at least: ORNAMENTS & TECHNIQUES CUTTER SHAPES GLASS BALL ORNAMENTS HTH, and have fun! Diane B.