I went on a rampage the other day, chucking out stuff that had been sitting around my house for far too long.
During this rampage, not only did I fill two huge boxes with stuff to get rid of, I also found a pile of printable overhead projector sheets.
Hmmm… why do I even have these? We’ve never owned an overhead projector and I doubt we ever will!
As I was about to chuck them out my big boy grabbed them…
“What are these? Can we do something with them?” he asked, and that’s how we ended up discovering this magical see-through painting technique!
Initially we decided to just draw on the plastic sheets with permanent markers, and that was fun for a while, but then I got out the liquid water colours and what was just ‘a bit of fun’ turned into something totally cool!
We call them ‘magical see-through paintings’.
If you want to do some magical see-through paintings here’s what you’ll need:
- Clear plastic sheets – over head projector sheets work great, so does cut up plastic packaging.
- Scissors
- Liquid water colours or food dye and a container for each colour
- Eye droppers/pipettes
- Something to cover your work surface
- A smock or apron and something to wipe up spills and clean fingers.
- A flat surface to dry your paintings
You need two sheets of plastic for each painting. If you are using clear plastic packaging you’ll need to cut two pieces that are the same size.
We used a both liquid water colours and food dye and both worked well with good bright results, but the food dye stains fingers so be aware!
This is a messy process so make sure you’ve covered your work surface well, and are wearing a smock, apron or old clothes that can get ruined. Having a damp cloth on hand to clean up any drips is also a good idea.
The process for this art exploration is really simple…
Drop small droplets of colour onto the sheet of plastic. Don’t get too enthusiastic, a little bit of colour goes a long way!
Once you have a covered the plastic sheet in small drops, simple place another sheet of plastic gentle on the top and watch…. Magic!
The water colours will move and merge seemingly on their own as the two sheets of plastic connect. Air bubbles move and pop as the colours mix and mingle. It’s so cool!
You can gently tap or press down on the top of the plastic to move and swirl the colours more if you want to. This is a bit like squish painting but you can see the paint moving between the two clear sheets.
We made a quick video to show you.
Paint will splurge out the side of the plastic, and these creations take a long time to dry, so find somewhere flat you can lay them till they are completely dry.
Once they are dry they make interesting sun catchers, and we taped our small pieces together and use them as bookmarks.
Water color on plastic sheets….Do you separate the plastic pieces to dry or dry the sheets together? How long does it take to drive?
We left the plastic sheets together with the paint between. Depending on what kind and how much paint you use, they will take quite a while to dry, so you’ll need to find a flat surface to lay them on if you want to keep them, but the process is so fun, it doesn’t matter so much if you keep the product!
Hi,
I love this idea and will
Be doing it with my Year 1 class this week.
Once it’s “dried” does it spill out of the sides or does it need to be taped up along the sides?
It depends on how much paint you use and how long you are able to let them dry. We let ours dry flat for a quite few days and they dried completely. And it is best t let them dry completely if you can, but if you want to display them or use them for other crafts, taping the two piece of plastic together is best so the paint doesn’t rub off. Hope that helps
We loved making these! When they dried, though, the colour disappeared- did this happen to anyone else?
The colours faded a little for us, but stayed fairly strong. I wonder if it depends on what kind of paint you use?
Maybe, it went from really vibrant colours to nothing overnight. We used these so maybe they are more liquidy and evaporate more easily. Anyway, thanks for the reply and my four year old really loved this activity.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/1-Oz-Color-Splash-Liquid-Watercolors/dp/B000GPNLE6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1488583955&sr=8-5&keywords=liquid+watercolours