DIY: Watercolor Paints

This recipe was one I first saw on Pinterest. Found here originally, this will make enough watercolor paint to fill 6 egg carton cups. If you want more colors, you can double the quantities, or just put less into each egg cup. I would probably just put less in each cup, since the yield for each color was quite a lot, considering that these are watercolor paints. This recipe is an easy and inexpensive way to make paint at home, and it's the first recipe I have seen for a true dried cake watercolor recipe. More importantly, it works!

{Trying out our watercolor paints}

Materials:

{Paint AFTER Setting Overnight}

• 4 Tbs baking soda
• 2 Tbs vinegar
• 1/2 tsp corn syrup
• 2 Tbs corn starch
• liquid food coloring
• empty egg carton
• mixing bowl
• spoons/skewers/popsicle sticks for stirring
• something to protect work surface
• paper 
• paintbrushes
• small container of water

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine baking soda with vinegar and wait until fizzing stops. 
2. Add corn syrup and cornstarch and mix. (Note: The original directions I found said until a "uniform consistency" but I found it glue-like on the top, and paste-like on the bottom, which is not what I would call "consistent" but it worked for me.)
3. Pour into egg cartons. You can pour it in without measuring, but I wanted to know quantities, and I found that one egg cup would hold 1 tablespoon of the paint mixture. Tip: For some reason our egg carton was leaking, so I quickly moved it on top of a cereal box liner (like free "wax paper"). I suggest covering your work surface before pouring the paint mixture into your egg cups to avoid leaks.
4. Add food coloring to each cup and carefully stir to mix. Tip: I tried using a spoon for this, but I found that it was sloshing the colors from one egg cup to the next. Then, I switched to a skewer, and had much more control. I used 5 drops each for red, yellow, blue, and green. To make orange, I combined 2 red + 3 yellow (this came out redder than I was hoping for, so maybe it needs more yellow) and purple was just plain odd. At first I combined 2 red + 3 blue and wound up with black! Then, I added 3 drops of neon purple and that combination made the nice deep violet that I was after.
5. Allow paint to set overnight. A couple of the colors had a little moisture on top when we used them, but this is okay.
6. Use wet paintbrushes to apply to paper. Tip: We used card stock, which worked fine, but watercolor paper is recommended. Thick paper is ideal. Tip: Paint shirts/smocks/old clothes are always my suggestion for painting with kids.
7. This paint dries quickly, which is nice because you can hang the paintings up much sooner than with other paints we have tried. Also, Mia liked that she could apply it thickly and get 3-D effects, not something that is normally achieved with watercolor paints. The colors do fade once they dry, but that is typical of watercolors, so I was not surprised by this.
8. This paint should keep for awhile, but with food type paints, it is hard to tell. (Note: Since I have the problem with the egg carton that is leaking, I am keeping mine on top of the cereal box liner for now. I may have to apply tape to the bottom in the future so that I can move this from my counter into our regular art supplies storage.)

{Finished Paintings}

DIY: Air-Dry Clay

Since we have enjoyed making oven bake clay, it made sense that we would like this recipe, too. When I saw it on Pinterest labeled as a "Model Magic" type clay I was intrigued. I have always wanted us to try out the Model Magic, but I had never wanted to pay for it. So, as you can imagine, I was pretty happy to find out how easily it can be made at home. Plus, I am always looking for more fun things to do with food coloring. You can also paint this clay after it hardens, I am told, but I have not tried that since I wanted to experiment with the food coloring.

We made this batch of air-dry clay back at the end of March, so it easily will last you 2 weeks if kept in an airtight container. I made some final beads with the last of this clay 3 weeks after mixing it up, and decided to bake it, which had mixed results. The pink came out very well after I sprinkled a small amount of corn starch onto a cereal box liner and started rolling it out. The purple, however, was very moist, and several additions of corn starch did not seem to remedy this. Undeterred, I made beads with both colors because I truly wanted to know how long this stuff would keep.

I also decided to try baking the beads since I realized the recipe was very similar to this one for Bright White Clay Dough (same ingredients, different proportions), which I had also seen on Pinterest. So, I baked my last few beads on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 175 degrees for 2 hours, flipping half-way through the baking time. Then, I let them cool in the oven. The pink beads turned out great, and as expected, the purple beads did not. Although they firmed up and were functional, the color had turned a putrid shade of brown, so in the end, I tossed them out.

So, my final conclusions are that a) This recipe definitely works for making an air-dry clay cheaply and easily at home! b) You can also bake this clay, if you prefer not to give up counter space for a couple of days while it hardens. c) Food coloring will work for this clay. Colors fade after they dry/are baked, but that is to be expected. d) Clay will keep for 2-3 weeks in an air-tight container.

{Mia's sculptures + some purple beads, BEFORE drying}

Materials:

• 2 cups baking soda
• 1 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• food coloring (optional)
• large pot
• spoon
• bowls (1 per color, if making more than one color)
• damp dish towel (1 per bowl) 
• optional clay tools: rolling pin, cookie cutters, straws, knife, rubber stamps
• container to keep clay (if not planning to use it all right away)

Directions for Making Air-Dry Clay:

1. Combine baking soda, corn starch, and water in a large pot. If desired, add food coloring. (Note: I actually divided this into 2 half batches in 2 different pots and added neon pink food coloring to one and neon purple food coloring to the other, 5 drops per batch.)
2. Cook on medium heat, stirring almost constantly until the mixture forms a mashed potatoes-like consistency.
3. Place clay into a bowl (I used 2 since I had 2 colors) and cover with a damp dish towel. Allow clay to cool.
4. Knead the clay until it is smooth. If damp, add a little corn starch. Tip: We did this on top of a cereal box liner (free "wax paper") and it worked very well to keep the counter clean. Plus, the clay didn't stick to the surface.
5. Make things with the clay. You can make free-form sculptures like Mia did. (Note: Parts of her sculptures did start to fall off and I don't know if that is because of the material or because of how she made things.) I chose to make beads. Another option that we didn't try this time around is making ornaments/tags by cutting with cookie cutters, using rubber stamps for designs, and punching a hole for hanging using a straw. How To Make Beads: 1) Roll clay into coils. 2) Slice segments with a knife. 3) Use a straw to punch a hole all the way through the clay.
6. Set aside to dry in a safe location. I found that this takes about 48 hours. 
7. Store extra clay in an air-tight container. I used old Cool Whip tubs, not at all fancy, but perfectly functional. As I mentioned, this clay still worked fine after 2 weeks, but only some of it turned out after 3 weeks, so that gives you an idea of how long it will last.

{Here are the oven-baked beads: 1 purple and 3 pink}

Homemade Bouncy Balls Experiment

Yesterday, we tried what was essentially a science experiment: attempting to make homemade bouncy balls. I found the idea on Pinterest. The only possible problem was that this blogger's directions very clearly stated that Elmer's Glue-All must be used, and I only had Elmer's School Glue on hand. So, I checked our local Wal-mart, but they were all out of the Glue-All for some reason. Then, I had the idea that Aleene's Tacky Glue is probably pretty similar to the consistency of Elmer's Glue-All, so I decided it was worth a shot.

The bouncy balls ended up being the right size, shape, and consistency, I believe. They bounced just a bit, which I think is the desired effect. I can't say for certain, since I did not try it with the Glue-All, but I think this worked as well as could be expected for homemade bouncy balls. Obviously, we could not expect them to bounce as high as store-bought balls. I think Mia was a tad disappointed by this because she said, "It just bumps a little bit." However, this provided some spring break entertainment without breaking the bank, which was what I was looking for in an afternoon activity.

{Finished Bouncy Balls}

{Bowl #2: BEFORE Mixing}

Materials:

• 2 Tbs warm water
• 1/2 tsp Borax
• 1 Tbs Aleene's Tacky Glue (or Elmer's Glue-All) not regular glue
• 1 Tbs corn starch
• 2 bowls
• spoons for mixing
• food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. In the first bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of warm water with 1/2 teaspoon of Borax. Stir to dissolve. There will be some powder that does not fully dissolve. Add desired food coloring and stir to mix. Kids can help with mixing, and also with adding food coloring, if you are comfortable with that. Tip: If you are unfamiliar with Borax, it can be found in the laundry aisle of your grocery store. I bought mine at Meijer for $3.42 and it has lasted me well over 2 years, so it is very affordable. It has lots of practical uses including making homemade cleaning solution (which I use to clean practically everything), homemade laundry detergent (which I use to wash all laundry except for diapers), and growing crystal snowflakes.
2. In a second bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of Aleene's Tacky Glue (or Elmer's Glue-All, not regular glue) with 1/2 teaspoon of the Borax mixture from the first bowl. DO NOT MIX! Let it stand for 15 seconds, then stir the mixture until it is too thick to continue stirring any longer. This is a bit harder for little hands, so probably will need to be done by an adult.
3. Using your hands, quickly roll the mixture into a ball. Kids can help with this step. Allow it to harden. We let ours set for about 30 minutes before playing with them. (You may not need to wait that long, but I wasn't sure.)
4. Try out your bouncy ball. Have fun, but don't expect it to perform like a regular store-bought bouncy ball!
5. You can repeat step 2 as many times as you like while you still have the mixture from step 1 available. We made two balls, one per child, but there was enough left over to make several more.

   

   {Forming the Bouncy Ball}

{Trying out the Bouncy Ball}