Salt and Water Colours Fireworks

Today is Monkey's grandmother's birthday! So of course we had to make a card to celebrate. When I asked Monkey what kind of picture he wanted to put on the card he said, "Oma loves fireworks!" So I started looking for fireworks art and found this. We've actually used this technique before, but it didn't turn out so great and I didn't blog about it. But I figured we could give it another shot. 

I found the idea on this blog: http://busymommymedia.com/firework-salt-painting/

Supplies: watercolours, white glue, salt, paint brush, black construction paper, baking tray 

The first step is to use the glue to draw a picture; in our case, fireworks. I wrote the number 60 and Monkey drew the fireworks. 

Once we were done using the glue to draw the number and fireworks, Monkey covered it all with salt. He was very generous! The glue needs to be completely covered. I used the baking tray so that we could shake all the extra salt off without making a mess. 

I noticed that we either used too much glue or the construction paper just isn't strong enough for this art process. If I use this technique again, I will use cardstock or cardboard. 

Once the glue was covered with salt and we had shaken all the excess off, we left it to dry for about two hours. 

Next, we set up the paint. For this activity, I ran water right over our watercolours tray. I wouldn't typically do this because it gets messy fast, but I knew it would help Monkey. 

He used the paint brush to drop/paint the  watercolours on the salt. 

It's neat to watch the salt absorb the watercolours - a science twist in this art activity. The colours bleed together, too. 

It took another couple of hours for the paint to dry. Once it was, I used a white pencil crayon to write a birthday message. The construction paper was really being put to the test, so to be safe I actually glued a piece of cardstock to the back. 

Oma loved her card :)

Mar