Maia and I tried a tissue paper stained glass project from MaryAnn F. Kohl’s Scribble Art a few days ago. We were supposed to do the project for our Toddler Art Group but I was sick and we had to cancel our meeting this week. We had all the materials though (colored tissue paper, waxed paper, liquid starch), so I decided that Maia and I could give the project a test run.
First, we had fun tearing colored tissue paper into little pieces. Then we taped a piece of waxed paper to the table to hold it in place. Maia used a paint brush to paint the liquid starch onto the waxed paper, lay a piece of torn tissue paper over the starched area, then painted over the tissue paper with more starch.
The idea was to cover the waxed paper with lots of overlapping pieces of variously colored tissue paper for a stained glass effect. However, Maia only wanted to put one or two pieces on each before starting another one. She also scrubbed the delicate tissue paper with her brush which caused the tissue paper to bunch up — and made her frustrated.
Here’s the one that I did (above). I’m not sure how the other 2 year olds would do with this project. Maybe they’d be more into it, but it seemed that Maia wasn’t quite ready for it. I think it has a lot of potential for an older child though. We’ll probably just do some good old simple painting for art group this week instead!
I thought that the “stained glass” project that we did with shaved crayons and waxed paper (above) worked a lot better for this age group, even though the adults had to do the ironing.
By the way, a note on the liquid starch: when I saw this listed under the materials for the project, I assumed it was an “art material” to be found at art supply stores along with the rest of the art materials. After traipsing to every art supply store in the area, I finally found it in my neighborhood grocery store in the laundry aisle! I have never starched a shirt in my life and had forgotten that people might actually take the time and energy to do such a thing. Anyway, I bought a powdered laundry starch and followed the directions to make the liquid version.
MamaBird said
My DD has liked messing around with tissue paper since she was about 21/2, I would say. You can just mix white glue with water and have her paint pieces (torn or cut) onto white paper or cardboard. Crunching up just makes it more 3D. Like the wax paper idea… thanks.
michelle said
I’ll have to look and then try this project with my Maia! Thank you for sharing. =)
mjm said
corn starch can be used for laundry so I would imagine you could use it here. you know if you can’t find the real thing.
Rachel said
another idea: you can also use 2 pieces of (sticky) contact paper w/the torn up tissue paper in between… which leaves out the starch/glue issue all together, although that might be the fun part for the toddler! when i’ve done this w/my toddler, he had a hard time tearing up the tissue paper.. it would just crinkle and fold if he didn’t hold it right. i’ve also used other easier-to-tear materials in the contact paper but they don’t have the same “stained glass” effect as the tissue paper. one fun material we used was that foamy/holey/shelf paper stuff (i bought at dollar store)–the holes let in lots of light… we enjoy it hung in our kitchen windows.
or maybe this is one for the adult art grp someday!
The Artful Parent said
Maia’s favorite part of the project was tearing up the tissue paper! Maybe we had a thinner kind. Rachel-I like your contact paper and tissue paper stained glass idea. Maybe we should try that one for art group. Mjm-maybe cornstarch would work, not sure. would it have glue-like properties after boiling with water? I bought ARGO laundry starch which doesn’t list any ingredients on the box, but the dry version does feel a lot like cornstarch. MamaBird – Yes, crunching up the tissue paper does make it more 3-d and fun. I suppose we should have just gone with it. Or even done more on purpose just for the fun of it. I’m sure I gave Maia the idea that it was supposed to be smooth, or she probably woudn’t have gotten frustrated when it bunched up. Ack- here I am passing on bad art preconceptions! It’s supposed to be about the creative exploration of materials, right? The process, not the finished project. Usually I’m pretty good about that, but sometimes I have to remind myself. -Jean
Sarah said
Hmm…I think I might try something like this. Maybe just ripping up paper first though…
I like MamaBird’s take on it too.
andreamcmann said
Looks like fun! How did you do the shaved crayons/waxed paper project??
That one looks really cool!
r8ermom said
these are all great ideas. i just discovered your blog today via soulemama and i’m so thrilled that i did. my son is 2 1/2 like maia so i love to read about your art adventures with her. i’ve had my toddler doing art since he was 18 months old, though in a local art class and at the time he would only sit still for a project for 10 or 15 minutes at most. a new baby means no more art classes for him for now, so i’m trying to do more art at home. he will actually sit still now for up to an hour or an hour and a half if the project keeps his interest, so my challenge is to constantly keep coming up with new things to keep his interest. so thank you for the ideas for projects and art-related books. i love them!
Lucia said
We just did a similar project with the crayons and wax…we made sun catcher valentines. My two year old had the job of peeling the paper off of the crayons. My five year old was the official “sharpener” . He also had fun mixing the crayon pieces to see what they would look like when melted together. And I did the ironing. They look great in the windows and we packed up several today to mail to friends and family. We’ll look forward to trying the tissue paper. Here’s a link to our valentines: http://bagelsandcrawfish.blogspot.com/2008/02/sunny-hearts.html
Barney said
Awesome glass work thanks for sharing with us. I will be trying this at home hope mine is as good as yours. This Art Glass work will form nice unique attraction at home.
Happy Valentine’s Day! « Three Sneaky Bugs said
[...] Valentines. After several failed attempts we finally settled on our card design. I was inspired by this project noted by The Artful Parent, who in turn got it from the book Scribble Art by MaryAnn Kohls. We [...]