My friend Erin tweeted about making her own watercolor paints awhile back and since we go through a lot of watercolors here, I wanted to give it a try. Also, it involves mixing baking soda and vinegar and I’ll take any thrill I can get on a Tuesday morning. :)
There are a lot of recipes out there, but because I do love Martha, we went with hers. It was simple enough (and non-toxic) so the kids did all the mixing and pouring, which they really enjoyed. The only downside is that you have to let them dry at least overnight, so its not an instant gratification kind of thing.
Also, ours didn’t dry, even after 24 hours. I think because we didn’t mix them thoroughly enough and the food coloring kind of sat on the top. I ended up mopping the top 1/4 inch off the top of each well and that worked great. The remaining paints were totally usable and colored. Its also difficult for little kids (or clumsy me) to stir the colors in the paste in the egg cartons without sloshing them out of the wells. Next time, I’ll probably use baby food jars instead, or something similar. Or mix them and then pour them into the egg carton. Or do what I did this time and call the purple encroachment on yellow a “customization”.
Despite all this, they do work as watercolors, and the kids had fun painting with them. The pictures were a bit chalky afterward, but I actually like them that way. And all those nice spatters you see on the floor around them wiped right up.
I think we’ll do it again – with a couple of modifications. :)
I especially like the third picture that shows some of the artwork- those children are budding artists!