Creative Kids Create Colorful Creation

This weekend I had the chance to work on some non-fabric projects, which is a fun change of pace. Lil Monkey's school hosts an Annual Art Auction and each class or grade makes a art piece for the auction. This year the Pre-K classes each made their own project, so as Homeroom Parent for Lil Monkey's class, I found a project for the kids to do and another mother helped me work with the kids to do the project.

The project we chose to do was the Alcohol Sharpie Project using 2-inch square tiles to create a pair of decorative trays. We had each of the children color 3 tiles each with Sharpies (they each chose their own colors) and then soften the color by dropping a littl bit of rubbing alochol on them and patting with a cotton ball. The results were quite colorful.

After the kids colored them, I brought them home and let them dry. Then over a two day period, I sprayed them with several layers of spray Mod Podge. Once dried, my husband and I screwed 2 black handles into a pair of rustic picture frames. (I chose 8x10 inch frames.) The I used a strong glue to glue 20 tiles onto each frame.

It was quite a fun project, though since I had to buy all of the supplies, a little expensive. The most expensive of course was enough Sharpies for 15 kids.

Later this week, I will show you a project I did for our home that was inspired byt this one. If you'd like the directions for this one, I've included them below.

Alcohol Tile Art

Supplies:

• Plain White “Subway” Tiles (available at most home improvement stores)
• Colored Sharpies (Black and Brown make colors murky, try to avoid them)
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Eye Dropper
• Paper Towels or Cotton Balls
• Surface protector (newspaper, plastic wrap, paper plates, etc)
• Fixative to seal art (many different sites provide various suggestions,  just make sure it’s a spray, applying with a brush with mess up drawing)
• Project to adhere tiles to – frame, tray, birdhouse, etc.

Instructions:

1. Clean and dry tiles to remove any dirt or dust.
2. Cover work surface.
3. Color on tiles with Sharpies. Just scribble, any design will be distorted. Try to limit to 2-3 colors or they will become muddled. You can even try with one color and let the white tile be the contrast.
4. Using eye eropper, drop alcohol onto the tile in random spots.
5. Using cotton ball or balled up paper towel, gently dab the alcohol around the tile wetting the Sharpie and creating a “watercolor” effect. Don’t over think it. If you don’t like the way it looks, simply rinse the tile with water and wipe dry.
6. Once you achieve the look you like let the tiles dry for a day or so.
7. Once tiles have dried, use fixative to seal the tiles, otherwise water or other liquids will wipe them clean again. You may want to seal with several layers.
8. Adhere to whatever project you want to create.

** A popular quick project is using 4-inch tiles to make coasters or 6-inch tiles to make trivets. Once dried and sealed, glue felt onto the bottom. Makes great gifts!

Until our next cup of tea ...