Papier Mache
Water
White Flour (one
part flour to one part water)
Strips of Newspaper,
about 1 inch wide
Acrylic or poster
paint
Mix flour and water
in a large bowl (2 cups of each is a good amount
with which to start)
until it makes a smooth paste. Dip in the
newspaper strips,
one at a time, remove the excess paste from your
fingers and lay
the coated newspaper on the form to be papier mached.
Smooth out the
wrinkles and continue to place coated newspaper over
the surface until
completely covered. When the surface has totally
dried, paint your
own design using acrylic or poster paint, and decorate
with craft supplies.
Variation:
Use white glue instead of flour, it works the same, but is
less pasty.
To make a pig form:
Use a plastic water
or soda bottle, poking in golf tees for legs, and
taping on cutout
triangles from a cardboard tube for ears. For the
finishing touch,
add a spring for the curly tail.
Sunburst Pinata:
Tape paper cone-shaped
drinking cups around the circumference of an
inflated balloon.
After it's dry cut a slit in the back and stuff in the
treats and trinkets,
cover and tape the opening closed, then paint.
Self-portrait:
Carefully mold
heavy duty aluminum foil around your face making sure
to press around
your chin, eyes, forehead, and mouth. If you wear
glasses, leave
them on. Then stuff the inside of the mold with dry
newspaper to give
it some support while you work. Cover the front of
the "molded face"
with papier mache. Allow to dry and then paint and
decorate with your
likeness or any design.
Gelatin Plastic
3 envelopes unflavored
gelatin
9 tbls water
3-5 drops of food
coloring
flat plastic lid
from 24 oz coffee can or a lid similar in size with a rim
cookie cutters
plastic drinking
straw for punching holes
Ice cream buckets
and kitchen wipes (optional)
In a small cooking
pan mix the water and food coloring over low heat.
Add gelatin, stir
continuously and cook for 30 seconds until thickened.
Pour the mixture
into a plastic lid, push the air bubbles to the edge with
a spoon and let
it set on the counter for 45 minutes. Remove the
flexible gelatin
disk from the lid. The gelatin will be pliable. Here's
when you pull out
the cookie cutters to cut shapes. Be sure to keep
any odd shaped
scraps, too. Or use scissors to cut a spiral. Poke a
straw in shapes
and spiral to punch holes and if you like, thread the
punched out circles
onto a string as beads. Dry shapes and scraps on
a cooling rack.
Hang spirals from a clothesline using clothespins.
They'll be hard
as plastic in 2-3 days.
To prevent curling:
As they dry, the
pieces tend to curl up and bend which is part of the
fun. But
if you want to keep some pieces nearly flat for a special use
like jewelry, here's
what to do: Take a plastic ice cream bucket, put a
kitchen wipe or
loosely woven cloth (such as cheesecloth) over the top
and place your
cut-outs and scraps on the cloth. Cut the center out of
a lid that fits
the bucket, put another wipe over the top of the gelatin
shapes, then press
the lid tightly over the top to hold the two sheets
firmly in place.
Allow the shapes to dry completely between the sheets.
An embroidery hoop
will function the same way.
Northern Lights Art
Drawing or painting
the Northern Lights is a wonderful inspiration for
free-form, no-fail
art. Just
supply pastel colors
and let the kids go, using one or more of these
techniques:
Music Inspired Art
Paint or draw to
music, using classical music or traditional Native
music. Do not use
music
with lyrics. The
point is to move with the music, not to paint about the
music. Use large
sheets of
paper so that the
children can use large arm movements. Either give
each child a piece
or use a table size sheet of paper for a mural.
Children can be
seated on both sides of the paper, since there's no
worry about Northern
Lights being upside down.
Squish Art
Put about 1 tablespoon
each of thick pastel blue and pastel green paint
in a zip-to-lock
bag and seal it. Let the child push the paint around and
make the Northem
Lights dance.
Sideways Art
Use peeled jumbo
crayons or sidewalk chalk on
its side.
To keep the chalk from rubbing off, wet the paper with
buttermilk before
painting or after
a chalk drawing
is done, spray it with a fixative. Or dip chalk in liquid
starch or sugar
water (1/2 cup water to 2 tablespoons sugar) before
using.
Hot Art
Line a warming tray
with foil. Tape a piece of paper on the foil. Color
with crayons.
Collages
Shaved Crayon Collage.
Shave crayons with a potato peeler or grater.
Iron between 2
pieces of
waxed paper.
Rice or Sand Collage
Color rice in rubbing
alcohol colored with food
coloring. Drain
and dry. Color sand by mixing with powdered tempera.
If sand is not
available, color
cornmeal. Glue
on with diluted white glue.
Fireworks Art
4 tbls liquid tempera
paint (Vibrant colors work best)
2 tbls white household
glue
1 tsp water
Construction paper
at least 8x11 (non-shiny finish is preferable)
Plastic drinking
straw
Repeat the recipe
for each color of paint and mix separately.
In a small bowl,
mix tempera, glue, and water. Pour about a
tablespoon of the
mixture onto the center of a piece of construction
paper. (If
you are working with two or more colors, you can place all
the "puddles" of
paint on the paper at once or blow one at a time) Take
a big breath and
blow with a blast of air through the straw holding the
bottom end of the
straw about 5 inches above the paint. The paint will
spread into bursts
of color like fireworks on paper. Pour another color
of paint and do
the same blowing again. If you like sparkle, sprinkle
glitter onto the
wet paint. Let dry. Display the paper as a piece of
artwork or cut
out and use as wrapping, greeting cards, etc. It can be a
great "ice-breaker"
at a party for children.