My son and I are working through the alphabet with a “letter of the week,” and when I needed an art project for “O Week” a couple of weeks ago, I turned to this marbleized paper tutorial from Unplug Your Kids. For our purposes, I called them oil paintings.
Here’s what you need:
A shallow pan (I used a dish pan)
Food coloring
Vegetable oil
Water
Thick paper (We used watercolor paper and cardstock)
Dropper
First, mix up the colors. Stir together 1/2 tablespoon oil and several drops of food coloring for each color. Mix with a fork for several minutes to combine the two ingredients. (Next time I will try shaking it, as suggested in the original instructions. It's a little like salad dressing.)
Put just enough water in the bottom of your pan to cover the bottom. (The colors will sink if the water is too deep.)
Use the dropper to put dots of color on top of the water. Don’t be afraid to mix colors, put colors on top of each other, or swirl them around. My son is into mixing colors lately, so he loved mixing the colors together.
When you’re done adding colors, gently place a piece of cardstock or watercolor paper on top of the water. Let it sit there until you see the pattern of colors seep through the paper. Gently peel the paper off, let excess water drain off, and set aside to dry.
Change the water and try again!
We’ve used our oil paintings to make cards, and I’m thinking about getting frames for a couple of them. They’re so pretty!
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