Create your own Magnetic Art Kit
I have dabbled with magnetic art in the past (see one of my early posts for junk magnetic art) – I love the simplicity, flexibility and infinite possibilities of magnetic art, and it is so easy to make your own unique sets at home. For this project I used my stash of painted papers, and purchased some thin self-adhesive magnetic sheets, which can be cut quite easily with sharp scissors. As an alternative to painted paper you could recycle some decorative wrapping paper, or images and textures from magazines. All that was required was to stick the sheets of paper onto the magnetic sheets and cut out whatever shapes I wanted. It’s also worth…
Using Decorative Papers
If over time, you find you or the kids have created a whole stack of decorative paper, it can be a problem what do you do with it all. Personally I find it really therapeutic to create decorative paper – there’s no (entirely self-inflicted) pressure to perform, and quite often when I’m creating it, I have no end purpose it mind, so they just get added to the collection, then when the time comes that I need some, the resources are there, ready and waiting. Of course the range of uses for these is endless, and you could just as well use commercial papers if you don’t have any of…
Five Ways to Use Tissue Paper for Artwork
Tissue paper is a wonderfully versatile medium for artwork which can be used in so many ways, either on its own or in combination with other art materials. It’s translucent qualities give its colours a brightness and luminosity and also make it perfect for layering. It also lends itself perfectly for use with texture. For the purposes of this post I’m going to be looking at ideas for using tissue paper as a medium for 2 dimensional artwork – there are of course lots of ways to use it in 3-dimensional work too, but I think you could probably write an entire book if I was to include that too!…
Funky Fish Kids Art Collage
This is a really simple but versatile activity which is great for using up odd scraps of paper, whether it be pieces of painted paper, children’s discarded artwork, wrapping paper or even sweet wrappers. Apart from this, all you need is a Medium Circle Paper Punch (we actually used 2 for the different sized fish, measuring 1.5cm and 1cm), some glue and pieces of coloured or painted thin card for the fish base. It’s also a great ‘drop-in’ activity or collaborative project. Each child can choose a plain card fish and they can then create something of their own which can be combined as part of a larger group artwork. Perfect…
Collaged Door Sign
This week we found yet another use for all those old comics and magazines we seem to accumulate – creating a collaged door sign. I’m not going to insult anyone’s intelligence by creating a ‘tutorial’ for this as I think it’s pretty self-explanatory really. The base was a piece of foam-board covered with coloured paper. The letters were cut out and glued a little haphazardly (I think it looks better that way) onto a piece of plain white paper whose edges I tore for decorative effect. Overall I’m quite pleased with the finished result…. Alternatively you could glue the letters onto pieces of adhesive magnetic sheet to create…
Super-Hero Comic Collage
Ever wondered what to do with a stack of old comics? Why not try recycling them into a piece of comic collage artwork? It’s really easy to create something effective, and you can produce them in whatever size you want. Kids can also join in or create their own. All you need is a pair of scissors and some glue, and a pile of old comics. I created this one on a piece of mountboard so that I could frame it if I liked, but if you used spray mount (which is a non-permanent spray glue that won’t damage the paintwork when the artwork is eventually removed) you could apply…
