That's Pinteresting!: Tie-Dye Coffee Filter Art

After my mother and I tried out bubble painting the other day, I started working my way through my Art Projects for Kids board on Pinterest, trying out some of the different techniques I have pinned over the past months.

I found a homeschooling mom at The Kitchen Table Classroom who uses markers and water on coffee filters to teach her children about color mixing.  You can't beat the project for simplicity, and the coffee filters that are created make interesting background papers for other projects.

I stopped using paper filters in a coffee maker about a year ago, so the filters have worked their way into my craft stash. I was happy to find a fun, easy, and pretty way to make use of them. I also borrowed the girls' craft drawer full of markers, and pulled out a little mini-mister I have, though you can use any sort of squirt bottle filled with water.

First, you just fold the coffee filter into quarters. My daughter Katy demonstrates this step:

Then you make colorful marks all over one quarter of the filter.  The color goes through the paper to the other side, but I like to flip the filter over and reinforce with more marks on the other side for an even richer effect.  Here are Bayla and Katy adding their marks to their filters:

Here is an example of the filters filled with marker color:

For the next step, just squirt the water from your mister or bottle onto the marks and watch the colors "melt" and blend:

This is a fun step, because you never know exactly how the marker and the water are going to react.

You can set the filters aside onto wax paper to dry; they don't take too long to dry, which is another plus with kids' crafts!

No two filters look alike, so it is fun to admire all the different results!  Because they look so much like tie-dye, I thought it would be fun to use them in the background of a journal page or ATC along with vintage images of women from the 1960s era.  We will see where that project takes me!

This is one of those projects that I firmly believe you can do even if there isn't a kid in sight!  Most of the projects on my Art Projects for Kids Pinterest board are fun- and artful-enough for kids or adults to enjoy!

Painted Papers: Rubber Cement Resist

One of the first posts I pinned to my "Painting Inspirations, Tutorials, and Projects" Pinterest board was an abstract watercolor tutorial from Grow Creative.  I have been wanting to try Elise's technique for months, and now that I've done it, I don't think I can stop!

The results are absolutely beautiful, and their map-like-qualities appeal greatly to the arty cartophile in me!  (I am borrowing the term "arty cartophile" from Jill K. Berry and her book Personal Geographies, which I was inspired to pull off the bookshelf after creating these rubber cement resist watercolor paintings.)

I followed Elise's technique pretty much exactly, so you can read her blog post for her directions, but I also took photos of each step of the process as I carried it out, so I thought I would share them with you here:

First, I used blue painter's tape to secure my 9x12 cold-press watercolor paper to a piece of palette paper on my work space.  (I tried low-tack artist's tape first, and too much watercolor paint seeped underneath it.  The blue painter's tape left a gorgeous crisp edge.)

Next, I dribbled rubber cement over the watercolor paper.  There is no planning, just random dripping in all different directions.

Then, I spent a little time with my embossing tool, speeding up the drying process for the rubber cement.  This is not a task for the impatient!  I get into a kind of trance, watching the rubber cement boil, bubble, pop, and dry.

Once the rubber cement is dry, the paper is ready for its first application of watercolor paint.  For this particular piece, I used Reeves tube watercolors in "Lemon Yellow."

In some of my first pieces, I did a watercolor wash across the entire paper.  For the example photographed here, I applied this first layer of watercolor in just some portions of the paper, leaving other parts white.

The drying process for the watercolor paint is much faster than for the rubber cement!

Now technically, you are supposed to apply more rubber cement, but I actually forgot, and put on a different color of watercolor.  This time is was Reeves tube paint in basic "orange."  I supplemented with another shade of orange from a set of pan watercolors.

I used the orange paint to fill in some of those white spaces I left when I applied the Lemon Yellow.

 After a bit more drying with the heating tool, I applied more random rubber cement.

More drying--which meant more time mesmerized by bubbling rubber cement.  

At this point it was time for my final color--Reeves tube watercolor in "Magenta."  Gorgeous!

After one final drying session with the embossing tool, I was ready to pull back the painter's tape and enjoy the crisp edge along the perimeter of my watercolor paper.

The next step is to use the pads of my fingers to rub away all of the rubber cement that has been resisting various layers of watercolor paint.  The rubber cement comes away in balls and crumbs, and leaves behind the wonderful pathways that give the art such a map-like quality.

When all the rubber cement has been rubbed away...voila!

Now, I think this piece looks beautiful, and am tempted to leave it as it is, but there is a final step that makes it look even more beautiful.  Using a fine-tipped black Sharpie pen, I outline various pathways around the piece.  (I tried Microns, but the "tooth" of the watercolor paper really does them in.)  I start with all of the white pathways, and usually move on to the secondary colors, like yellow in this piece.

When I was finished deciding which areas to outline in black, I had my finished piece:

 I think I could sit around and look at it all day!  I really love the results of this technique.

 What do you think?

This was my fourth 9x12 art piece using the rubber cement resist technique.  Here are the earlier ones I created:

 These first two have a similar color combination, with more "lake blue" in the first one.

I like how they look when I photograph them without the white perimeter:

I'm showing these in backwards order, because this last one I am showing you is the first one I tried.  Instead of using rubber cement, I used Art Maskoid, which is the same as frisket.  But my bottle was almost completely dried up so I was kind of smearing sticky frisket across the page.  At first, I thought the result looked kind of terrible, but it has grown on me, and looks like a map of some archipelago far out in the ocean.  (You can also see how the artist's tape didn't give as clean of an edge as the painter's tape does.)

Stay tuned, because in an upcoming post I will share some pretty cards I have made using this same rubber cement resist technique! 

Bayla's First Craft Tutorial: How to Make a Butterfly Present

My five-year-old Bayla has a developing understanding of the world of blogging...enough to create a project, and then request that I put it "on blog" so other people can learn how to make it, too!  When she made a special craft yesterday with supplies from my dear friend Mindy, I agreed to share her latest creation, complete with materials and steps.

In order to make your very own Butterfly Present, you will need the following:
+ A big pink pom pom
+ A small piece of chenille stem
+ Two golden brads
+ Two brown foam triangles
+ Two Q-tips
+ An egg carton
+ A ribbon

And here are the steps:
1.  Glue the piece of chenille stem to the pom pom for a mouth.  (Use the photo above as a guide.)
2.  Tuck in the golden brads to the pom pom for eyes.
3.  Glue the brown foam triangles to the pom pom for wings.
4.  Glue the Q-tips to the pom pom for antennae.

 

5.  Cut an egg carton in half.
6.  Put the butterfly in the egg carton and close it up.
7.  Tie the ribbon around the egg carton and make a bow.

Bayla made this present for her daddy, and Katy followed her directions to make a Pom Pom Butterfly, too.  The girls hope you will try this craft with your favorite kid soon! 

I know the girls would love to hear from you in the comments...what do you think of Bayla's first craft tutorial?

Simply Handmade: Button Hair Bands

Some of my favorite projects are the very simplest.

I recently pinned a photo to my very small "Neat Ideas" board, showing how to spruce up a simple hairband with a button.  I went to my button collection, and pulled every one that had a shank on the back (the little loop, as opposed to buttons that are flat, and have holes in the middle).  Then I had to narrow it down to the shanks with a big enough opening to thread a hairband through.  With one simple move (illustrated in the Pinterest pin  and the Dream Patch post), I had a collection of much fancier hairbands for my girls.

Here is a closer look at some of these simple new creations:

One of my favorites for the girls.

I'm thinking this one might make it into my 'do.

Pretty with any color band.

What?  You don't have a cow button?

So, clearly for this project, you need pretty, fun or funky shank buttons, with large loops on the back.  I used an awl more than once to help poke the hairbands through.  (An awl is the pointy tool used in bookbinding.)  It also helps to have pretty colored hairbands to match to your buttons.

The woman at Dream Patch points out in her blog post that you can spruce up hairpins using the same technique, just sliding the pin through the button shank.  Simple brilliance!

Somehow, then, I found myself on My Paper Crane, where Heidi made her own fabric-covered buttons to turn into hairband embellishments.  I remembered immediately that I had a button kit tucked away that I had been wanting to use, so I dug it out, along with fabric scraps collected from my kids' discarded clothing, and got to work making my own buttons for creating fancy hairbands.

The process is simple, because I just followed the directions for the kit.

This kit makes smaller-sized buttons than the ones I am showing here.  I have to admit that once I made all ten larger-sized buttons, I ran out to JoAnn and bought a second kit for smaller-sized buttons to play with!

The kits provides you with a template, and tells you to draw around the circle onto your chosen fabric.

After you cut out the circle, you lay it face-down on one of the plastic pieces they provide.  Then you lay what will be the front of the button on top of it and press down.

For the next step, you tuck all the edges of the fabric inside, and press the back of the button (with the shank attacked) down on that.  This step can take a little effort, depending on how thick your fabric is!  I couldn't get denim to work at all.

You then just pop out and admire your fancy new button!

Of course, Mommy can't experiment with any new craft without little fingers bursting in and demanding to participate!  Both my four- and five-year old were able to make two buttons apiece with just a little bit of Mommy aid:

And they happily wore some new button creations for the rest of the day:

Aerial view!

I'm not sure that we need quite as many button hairbands as I am likely to create buttons for, so I imagine I will end up with a jar of brightly decorative buttons on a shelf in my craft room before this fabric button-covering craze passes!