First official day of summer break (I’m kinda skipping over the last day of school post for now, ha), and we definitely hit the ground running, in terms of keeping ourselves entertained!
I planned a random “P” themed day for the kiddos. Silly, but effective in terms of lots o’ activities that begin with the letter P.
Pajamas (all day)
Pancakes (that they made)
Popsicles (homemade; yum!)
Puzzles
Pizza
Pool (swimming lesson day)
And…Painting!
Or, more specifically…
Salt Art Painting!
In my random search for easy, on-hand crafts and science experiments for the summer, I came across this little gem and thought it would be a unique and really coolio painting project for us. And I was right! It was definitely a winner. :)
This was the original example that caught my eye online. So vibrant and fun!
The supplies were pretty simple:
The supplies were pretty simple:
Canvases
Vinyl Letters
Mod Podge
Salt
Watercolor Paints
In fact, most (all?) of the supplies we had on hand (though, some of it was old, so I needed to buy fresh). And I’ll just go ahead and say up front that there are sooooo many variations that can be accomplished along these general project lines. The possibilities are endless!
First, I gathered the crazies with their canvases and let them spell out whatever they wanted.
Then, once the letters were in place, we painted the entire canvas—letters and all; the paint actually helped the letters stay flat—with Mod Podge.
As soon as the Mod Podge was applied, we sprinkled a liberal amount of salt on top.
Thank goodness we were smart enough to do this part on cookie sheets to keep the salt contained, ha.
First, I gathered the crazies with their canvases and let them spell out whatever they wanted.
Then, once the letters were in place, we painted the entire canvas—letters and all; the paint actually helped the letters stay flat—with Mod Podge.
As soon as the Mod Podge was applied, we sprinkled a liberal amount of salt on top.
Thank goodness we were smart enough to do this part on cookie sheets to keep the salt contained, ha.
Then we let the whole shebang dry for about an hour before shaking off the excess salt. Already, the texturized look of the salt was super nifty.
Next up: watercolor painting!
I can only assume watercolors are recommended because the obvious water involved will help dissolve the salt just a bit as you go, resulting in a really neat dissolving/spreading paint situation.
Three of us went with a bit of a rainbow/ombré/transition situation, but Chica did a really nifty tie dye looking pattern. All were lovely!
One of the reasons this was a really successful project for us was the time involved. Meaning, it actually took more than two minutes for the canvases to be fully covered and painted.
Three of us went with a bit of a rainbow/ombré/transition situation, but Chica did a really nifty tie dye looking pattern. All were lovely!
One of the reasons this was a really successful project for us was the time involved. Meaning, it actually took more than two minutes for the canvases to be fully covered and painted.
The salt absorbs a lot and watercolors are naturally a bit thinner to deal with, so I appreciated the effort involved with this one—mostly, so we didn’t end up spending more time setting up than actually painting, which so often happens!
So…yay for a bit more time spent actually creating. :)
We took one slow-mo video of Chicklet’s paint spreading across her canvas, as the process was really cool. Definitely part craft/part science fun, to be sure!
After the canvases were completely covered, we let them sit for, honestly, less than an hour before we started trying to peel off the letters (what can I say; we’re impatient!).
We took one slow-mo video of Chicklet’s paint spreading across her canvas, as the process was really cool. Definitely part craft/part science fun, to be sure!
After the canvases were completely covered, we let them sit for, honestly, less than an hour before we started trying to peel off the letters (what can I say; we’re impatient!).
Truth be told, there was a large part of me that wanted to just leave the gold letters exactly as they were, because they looked beautiful with a bit of the salt texturizing over them.
Still. For this inaugural round of salt painting, we decided to go ahead and follow the original instructions, and I’m glad we did, because the pop of white is really fresh and lovely.
Chicklet added a thicker layer of both the Mod Podge and a liberal amount of water with her watercolor paint, so her letters were a bit harder to peel off, as the sticky adhesive on the back had started to dissolve into a goop. But nothing too terribly difficult to manage.
Look how fun they turned out! (And how color-coordinated with the curtains, ha.)
Little Man was a little displeased with some of the bleeding of color that seeped under his letters. So perhaps we’ll try pressing them to the canvas even harder for a firmer seal next time.
Also, just two final personal opinions:
Still. For this inaugural round of salt painting, we decided to go ahead and follow the original instructions, and I’m glad we did, because the pop of white is really fresh and lovely.
Chicklet added a thicker layer of both the Mod Podge and a liberal amount of water with her watercolor paint, so her letters were a bit harder to peel off, as the sticky adhesive on the back had started to dissolve into a goop. But nothing too terribly difficult to manage.
Look how fun they turned out! (And how color-coordinated with the curtains, ha.)
Little Man was a little displeased with some of the bleeding of color that seeped under his letters. So perhaps we’ll try pressing them to the canvas even harder for a firmer seal next time.
Also, just two final personal opinions:
First, I think giant block letters (versus lowercase) produced the crispest and best results, just because there was greater surface area to paint around. But that’s certainly just a preference thing.
And, second, I think bolder colors around the letters are helpful because it results in a greater contrast once you peel the letters off.
Anywho.
Anywho.
We really enjoyed this one a bunch and the salt in the art really mimics a sand/beach kind of vibe, so it was the perfect inaugural summer project.
So…yay for making it through Day 1 (I kid, but only a little), with a lot of activities to keep us busy.
I’ve got a lot to post about the school wrap-up and our summer plans ahead, so…more mañana!
Happy SUMMER, peeps!
Over and out.
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