Snow and Tissue Paper Art
We had some snow a couple of weeks ago and we decided to come up with an art project using the snow. We looked around on Pinterest for some ideas and decided to use our bleeding tissue paper to make some fun art. This blog we were following had such beautiful colorful pictures when we were done and we thought it sounded like a lot of fun.
We took thick watercolor paper and placed them inside cookie trays.
We then cut our bleeding tissue paper into various shapes and laid them on our paper.
We sprinkled a light covering of snow over our whole picture.
Eventually all the snow had melted and we had large swirls and pool of colors where our paper had buckled. We just left it alone and waited to see what would happen.
Have you ever tried a fun art project with snow?
We took thick watercolor paper and placed them inside cookie trays.
We then cut our bleeding tissue paper into various shapes and laid them on our paper.
Once we had a design we liked we went outside to gather some snow into a bucket.
We set our trays aside and watched as the snow slowly melted and released the colors from our tissue paper.
Eventually all the snow had melted and we had large swirls and pool of colors where our paper had buckled. We just left it alone and waited to see what would happen.
Once our papers were completely dry we brushed off any dried tissue paper and stood back to see what designs showed up....
Nothing!
Most of our papers had a bit of color around where our puddles had been but were pretty plain and ugly. We were so disappointed and I almost didn't share it on my blog.
After all, I like to give other people fun ideas to do with their children but I realized that if I didn't share it, I just wasn't being honest.
I would not call the whole project a failure as we did still have a lot of fun working with the tissue paper and the snow.
It was also a great time for me to teach the boys that arts and crafts projects don't always turn out like we had hoped or planned.
I knew that there was still potential though and since our papers were still a bit damp here and there I pulled out the colored tissue paper and laid another layer of tissue down.
My boys elected to call it a loss and toss their papers out.
We talked about a few things we could do differently next time-- use smaller sheets of watercolor paper (ours were 11" x 15") , use less snow and just sprinkle a few flakes enough to wet the tissue paper but not saturate it, use more tissue paper so our colors would have been darker, dump the puddles of water off our paper before letting it dry, etc.
This is the second time we've tried bleeding tissue paper art and found that our images did not transfer in any way. I'm not sure if it's the brand of tissue paper we're using or what but even with allowing my second layer of tissue paper to dry I still did not have as much color as I had hoped.
Nothing!
Most of our papers had a bit of color around where our puddles had been but were pretty plain and ugly. We were so disappointed and I almost didn't share it on my blog.
After all, I like to give other people fun ideas to do with their children but I realized that if I didn't share it, I just wasn't being honest.
I would not call the whole project a failure as we did still have a lot of fun working with the tissue paper and the snow.
It was also a great time for me to teach the boys that arts and crafts projects don't always turn out like we had hoped or planned.
I knew that there was still potential though and since our papers were still a bit damp here and there I pulled out the colored tissue paper and laid another layer of tissue down.
My boys elected to call it a loss and toss their papers out.
We talked about a few things we could do differently next time-- use smaller sheets of watercolor paper (ours were 11" x 15") , use less snow and just sprinkle a few flakes enough to wet the tissue paper but not saturate it, use more tissue paper so our colors would have been darker, dump the puddles of water off our paper before letting it dry, etc.
This is the second time we've tried bleeding tissue paper art and found that our images did not transfer in any way. I'm not sure if it's the brand of tissue paper we're using or what but even with allowing my second layer of tissue paper to dry I still did not have as much color as I had hoped.
Have you ever tried a fun art project with snow?
Linking Up With:
I've had a few flops with art projects (and science experiments!!) as well. It's good that you shared this. We all need reassurance that sometimes things just don't work out as well as the instructions say they will.
ReplyDeleteThanks. We've had some science experiment flops too! I always try to just focus on the fact that even by trying we're learning.
DeleteThank you...this looks like a lot of fun even if it doesn't turn out perfectly. It would never have occurred to me to use snow for this. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of fun. We all agreed it hadn't been a total waste since it was fun to watch and play with the snow.
DeleteAww...it still looks like fun despite the disappointment. There is a special tissue paper that may help that actually is meant for art and "bleeding" color. If you visit Amazon and search "Pacon Spectra(R) Assorted Color Tissue Pack, 12" x 18", 25 Colors, Pack Of 100 Sheets" you'll see the kind that bleeds the color. Hope that helps! I had a similar issue and learned this a few years back.
ReplyDeleteThat's what we have! I just think we used so much snow that the water saturated the color right out. The water left in our pans was quite dark but it just lifted it all right off the paper and swept it away.
Delete