We love exploring with different ways to paint. I’ve been dying to try painting with fizzing watercolors since I first saw it on Fun at Home with Kids. Since my girls also love playing with tape I thought we’d see what happens if we use fizzing watercolors to make tape resist art. The combination of science experiment and art was perfect for my little investigators.
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To get started we used painter’s tape to make random designs on white card stock.
Then we mixed blue and green neon food coloring, a bit of water, and baking soda according to the guidelines Asia provides in her fizzing watercolor post (although they used liquid watercolors instead of food coloring). The girls painted the mixture on their canvases, making sure to leave a thick covering in each space.
Then the fizzy fun began! They used pipettes to drop vinegar on the individual spaces. Both of the girls loved watching the reaction as each spot began to bubble and fizz.
Adding the tape seemed to help prevent the colors from mixing together too much. Although some liquid did cross over the tape and the girls liked watching the subtle blending of colors.
When they were finished we let the paintings dry. Although the girls were very eager to peel off that tape and see their creations!
There does seem to be a magic time when the tape will peel off easily. I took a sneak peek and the tape peeled back very well with the paper still being just a bit damp. Unfortunately, I left the tape there and we didn’t get back to looking at the art for another day. By then the paper was very dry and I peeled a little bit of the paper with the tape. SO don’t wait too long! 🙂
Either way the girls were thrilled with the result.
The girls over at Fun at Home with Kids left the baking soda mixture on their canvases, and it created a very cool moonscape effect. My girls wanted to take the baking soda off, so they scraped the excess powder off with a metal spatula and revealed the color left behind on the paper. The distinction isn’t as clear as traditional tape resist because of the liquid, but you can still see the different sections.
This is the front of one of the creations.
The girls also really liked that there was more artwork on the back of the paper as the color seeped through completely.
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Deceptively Educational
This looks like loads of fun. Science + art. SO cool! Thanks for sharing at the After School Linky party.