Toothpaste Batik: Round Landscapes!

My four DragonWing Arts students just completed their "toothpaste batik" landscapes (and one underwater-scape).  I'll show  you the finished results first, and then explain how we got there! The piece shown above  is by a 2nd grader; the next two are by 3rd graders.  

And the final piece of the four, below, is by a 2nd grader.  The pieces are all displayed in embroidery hoops.  I'm trying to decide whether to let the kids embellish the hoops, by gluing on beads.  What do you think?

 When you display the pieces in front of a window, they can look pretty awesome; don't you agree?

 The kids began with drawing their ideas to scrap paper, which was then taped to a piece of cardboard and traced with a black Sharpie marker. 

 Then a piece of white fabric was taped over the drawing, so the Sharpie lines could be visible through the toothpaste resist.  This way, there were no pencil lines on the fabric.

 I mixed toothpaste and aloe hand lotion together in squeeze bottles, and the kids shook them up to mix.  (We call this "the shake-shake dance".)  Does is have to be aloe?  My guess is "no".  The process is experimental;  there are many alternative resist possibilities.  Anyhow, this toothpaste/lotion mix was then used to trace the drawing onto the white fabric. 

 The work was left to dry until the next class.  It will feel rubbery when dry. 

 The students used tempera paint to paint their designs.  They can paint right over the toothpaste/lotion lines, as the toothpaste/lotion will wash away to leave white lines when complete. 

Below you can see what the piece at the top of this post looked like just after painting was complete.  No white lines are visible at all!

 I don't have a picture of the next step to share here, but it is easy.  Let the paint dry, and then put the fabric in the sink with warm running water.  Begin rubbing the surface gently.  The toothpaste mix will start to come off, as will excess paint.  Make sure you do NOT use washable tempera, or all your color will wash away!  Rinse well, and lay on the cardboard to dry. 

While my usual favorite school tempera paint is Sax Versatemp, we used Blick tempera for this project, and the colors work especially well. The pigments seem to leave a good deal of color in the fabric.  Try your favorite brand, but remember: NOT WASHABLE PAINT! 

This process can also be done with acrylic paint, but the final product will be stiff, whereas the final product with tempera is quite soft.  I have also used this process with fabric dyes to paint a shirt. 

 Above and below, you see my students adding additional details as desired with Sharpie markers.  We then inserted them into the embroidery hoops to display, as you can see in the images at the top of this post. 

 I have posted about this process several times over the last few years, since I first discovered the idea for using this material on an obscure post from a now-defunct blog. (The post was brief, with just one photo, so most of the process I have developed through my own trial and error.  The blog post that inspired me can no longer be accessed.)

I know a number of people do a similar imitation batik process using the blue Elmer's gel glue.  I tried it once when we ran out of toothpaste, but we found it very difficult to wash out.  I have also experimented, with some success, with using a hardening hair gel as the resist.  Don't be afraid to experiment!   The bonus is that your classroom will smell minty-fresh while you are using the toothpaste, and that everyone will think it is ridiculously silly to be using toothpaste for art.

 I have approached this project using a different theme for the artwork each time, and have SO many more ideas.  The possibilities are unlimited.  You can view my other posts about this process here, here, here, here, here, and here.

One last thought - I think it would be a great idea (though I haven't done it) to contact a local dentist, especially one that specializes in children's dentistry.  You might be able to get them to both donate toothpaste (I buy mine at the dollar store for this project), and display the completed artwork! 

Following dreams...

Break out the overalls and do a happy dance with me, because some blue-haired little old lady is gonna be doin' some painting this summer!  And by the way, I don't mean painting the ceiling of my shed again,  though that was kind of fun.  (My husband doesn't like to trust me with a paintbrush on our house.  I think he's afraid it will end up like my car).  But let me explain about this summer...

Do you ever see opportunities and say "I wish I could do that some day"? We all get so busy with our commitments, and work, and family, and crazy projects, and taking care of our homes,  our cars, our health, and so on, and it's easy for it all to pass by.  Well, since I retired, I realize that "some day" has arrived, and if I don't take the opportunities while I am able, it may be too late. I think the first thing I did shortly after my retirement was tell my college roommate that even though we live on opposite sides of the country and never see each other, we needed to get together somewhere crazy for a milestone birthday.  Neither of us had any real desire to go to Las Vegas, so that's where we went.  It took a little work to convince her, but we are both glad we did. 

But I'm not generally talking about vacations.  I am talking about MYSELF.  Things I want to do for ME.  To me, this is not just laying on a beach, sitting on the dock with a good book, or paddling in my kayak, though I love and do all those things.  I'm talking about genuine learning experiences.  Taking classes; meeting people you've never met, learning a new skill, or re-discovering an old passion. Assessing what I want to do with the life that I have.  For me, being creative is a large part of who I am, so it needs to play a major role in choosing what these things will be.   

I began retirement with a bunch of classes at the Adirondack Folk School.  It is just 1/2 hour away, and it always looked interesting, but gosh, those classes aren't cheap...  So I said "what am I saving for?  DO IT!"  So... in the almost 4-years since I retired, I have woven a beautiful rug out of sock tops (fun!), I learned to use PMC (precious metal clay, which I absolutely LOVE), made lampwork beads (which was a great experience, but in the name of safety, this little klutz will not be using a torch any time soon in my own home), made a bead embroidered purse (quite the endeavor; I'm very proud of it and doubt I'll ever do anything like it again), and made a purse from a gourd (which is very cool but not real practical), and more. 

 I traveled to Santa Fe for the Crizmac/School Arts International Folk Art Extravaganza in July 2014, which I had been eyeballing each  year in School Arts magazine. I didn't know a single person who'd been on one of these travel/professional development opportunities, so it was a gamble, and it was wonderful; worth every dime.

This July, I'm taking another such gamble, and I will leave home/husband/cat for an entire week and go to the beautiful campus of Bennington College in Vermont, where I will be taking an Art New England summer workshop class where I hope to rediscover my love of oil paints (haven't used them in decades, due to time and space and life considerations), painting landscapes in the out-of-doors, weather permitting.  With all the thinking/talking I've been doing about using authentic source materials for your art, and painting from observation (see this recent post), I'm putting my money where my mouth is.  (So now I have three months to shop for all the materials I'll need; the list is extensive and I'm eager to start shopping.)  

I left college with two artistic passions: darkroom photography and oil painting.  I taught darkroom photography for 8 years, until a job cut and I no longer had a free accessible darkroom.  I painted until I got married, more than 28 years ago, and moved into a house that had wall-to-wall carpeting pretty much throughout.  Since that time, I've discovered a lot more, including batik, and acrylic paint, and papier-mache, of course!  (I think that, with a different educational background, I might have become a sculptor, like my grandfather Harry Levine.  But fates didn't lead me that way, though there's still time....)  I still love photography, but the darkroom is a thing of my past, like scuba diving.  But still, those oil paints  were never discarded, and the luminosity of their colors was something I never felt I achieved with acrylics, and I became just an occasional painter.  I'm looking to remedy that, this summer.  Wish me well!

What opportunities have you looked at longingly? Can you find a way to make room for those opportunities in your life?

By the way - if you want to learn more about my grandfather, or about any of those previous endeavors mentioned in this post, from the precious metal clay to the International Folk Art Market and everything else, they've all been posted about before on this here blog.  Just type what you want to know about in the search bar on the right side of my blog, or search for the topic of interest in the "cloud" of labels at the bottom of the blog.  Either way will take you to all sorts of stuff from previous posts over the last few years!  Happy hunting!!!

Landscape Reflections by 2nd grade

This quick project began with a discussion of landscapes and reflections. We folded paper in half "the hot dog way" and drew our landscape on the top half with oil pastels. We then mirrored the colors with ripply lines in the water for the reflections, still using oil pastels, and finally painted (the water only) with watered down liquid watercolors. They were completed in two sessions, but I bet you could do it in just one if needed.

Many of my students live right along or near one of several small beautiful Adirondack lakes in our school district. Their artwork "reflects" a very familiar environment to them!