Corn Syrup Painting

Here is a messy, but fun idea for painting using items you probably already have in your pantry. We did this indoors with lots of newspaper to protect everything. (Just don't allow paper to dry on the newspaper because it will likely stick.) You could also do this outside on a warmer day, which I think would be ideal. The only problem is that I was afraid to display these paintings when they were finished because I didn't want to attract ants or just plain have a runny, sticky disaster on the walls. I would say this project is about the process more than the finished product. (By the way, the finished product takes about a day to dry.) The colors are brilliant and in the end, the paintings are shiny and quite attractive, but I wouldn't suggest saving them for posterity. The idea for this one comes from here.

{"Daddy on a Summer Day" by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• paper
• crayon
• corn syrup
• bowls
• spoons
• food coloring
• paint brushes

Directions:

1. You will need one bowl for each color you are making. Pour in a small amount of corn syrup. We used about 1 tablespoon per bowl.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl and mix with a spoon. We used 3 drops each of red, yellow, blue, neon green, and neon purple.
3. Draw your design onto paper using a crayon. Glossy art paper was recommended by the original poster, but I had poster board and paper plates on hand, and both worked fine.
4. Fill in design by painting with corn syrup.



{The end result is a glossy raised texture that resembles pottery glaze.}

5. Allow to dry. (This takes a long time... Some of ours were still smudged easily after 24 hours.)

{I painted the design on a paper plate, allowed to dry, and then cut into an egg shape. Note: The colors do run together so less intricate designs may work better.}