Pepper Paints

Puzzle Upcycle

When sorting through our puzzle drawer I found a few puzzles my kids have outgrown. I remembered seeing a puzzle diy on alisaburke’s blog

First Ginger painted the whole puzzle

Be sure to spread paint out the paint so there are no globs and it’s not too thick. Then we removed all the pieces to dry.

Draw your pattern, design, picture or whatever you decide with pencil if you are like me or you can go straight to the sharpie if you are bold and brave!

After you outline your work in sharpie you can start painting.

After everything is dry — give this fancy new puzzle to a friend!!

DIY Puffy Paint

I had a few people ask about the homemade puffy paint recipe that I made for the Paint Like Dale Chihuly post.

Puffy Paint is super expensive to purchase–especially for a whole class. This DIY version is not meant for fabric but more for a paint that dries bumpy. It adds a little depth and texture to the work.

It’s cheap and easy to make. Equal parts salt, flour and hot water. Stir until dissolved. Add liquid or powder tempra. This potion is very forgiving. Add more water if too thick and add more salt and flour if it’s too thin –especially after adding the liquid tempra.

Pour or spoon mixture into squeeze bottles–I bought empty ketchup and mustard bottles. You want the consistency to be runny enough to squeeze out of the bottles with out splatting. Understand? You will once you start mixing. Think frosting–creamy frosting! You can even add a little glitter for some fabulous sparkle!

Painting Like Dale Chihuly

Unschooling Co Op is back in session so that means I will have something to post other than updates on our remodel! We talked about the paintings of Dale Chihuly for our first class.

Chihuly is well know for his glass works but his paintings and his painting style is also impressive. Here is a link to a few google images of his paintings

http://www.google.com/search?q=chihuly+paintings&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Xlq&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=QuZxTuPUCKffsQKKvOXICQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBMQ_AUoAQ&biw=1035&bih=465

To mimic Chihuly’s style of painting we layered paint on to canvas through several steps. We used sheets from a canvas pad. Be sure to paint on the correct side so the edges don’t roll. We used acrylic paint.

The first layer of paint when on with a brayer

The second layer went on with a broom-allowing the first layer to show through

Next layer was splatter painting

And then we used “puffy paint” for the final layer  DIY puffy paint recipe here

Each one ended up so different and the kids really enjoyed applying each different layer. I did choose specific colors for each layer so that the darker colors went on first and and then in small amounts last, hoping to keep the layers visually separate.

This collage is made up of all the kids paintings

I can see why Chihuly is also well known for his splatter painted shoes after this class!! I loved both the process as well as the product of this project!

DIY Stained Glass Windows

First we ripped up lots of tissue paper.

Then working in sections we brushed clear washable school glue onto the window. The glue dries quickly so don’t get ahead of yourself! Here they used glue pens. Then stick the tissue paper down-brushing over edges. Overlapping is encouraged!!!

They look so pretty when the sun shines through!

DIY Lunch Bags And Gift Bags

I bought white lunch bags from one of my favorite local gems, Cake Craft. Cake Craft is a bakers oasis. Every type of candy mold, cake decor, boxes etc you can imagine.And all the sprinkles oooh!!

We used liquid water colors to paint our gift bags. I barely diluted the water colors keeping them as bright as possible. Open the bags up to keep the paint from bleeding through.

We let the colors run together on some and painted designs on others.

Take care not to tear them when they are wet. Once they dry they are ready to be filled with a gift or a lunch!

Look at the pretty bags at Artsyville! Actually look at all the pretty things there!!

DIY Watercolor Paints

Did you ever wonder what those little watercolor cakes are made of? Well I am sure the factory makes them out of something different than these but I must say I was very impressed with the way these turned out. The colors are so bright and beautiful—and custom designed!

We doubled this recipe and it made a ton. You definitely need shallow little containers–I happened to have some empty paint trays that I picked up at a recycling shop and some empty film canisters which are a little too deep but worked OK-just took longer to dry.

Mix the following together:

3 Tablespoons baking soda

3 Tablespoons corn starch

3 Tablespoons white vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Pour into your containers —bottle caps, pill boxes, any tiny, shallow container will do.

Add food coloring. We used both neon and regular colors of food coloring

Be sure to mix or shake well

Now let the cakes dry—this takes a while. We let ours sit for about 30 hours.

But look—–totally worth the wait!