Maia and I gave shaving cream marbling a try yesterday. Tracy recommended the project (here are the instructions) after I first posted about shaving cream painting. It’s so easy! I thought it would be a big long process, but it wasn’t.
First I sprayed way too much shaving cream into a baking pan. I don’t think I needed nearly as much, but Maia enjoyed it. Then she used droppers to squeeze diluted liquid watercolors onto the shaving cream (you can also use food coloring).
She swirled the colors around with a popsicle stick…
Then pressed a piece of cardstock (poster board cut into pieces) into the shaving cream. We set it aside to dry, then wiped the shaving cream off.
I’m too impatient to let things dry completely before photographing them, so this is still wet. And doubly so because I left the shaving cream on a lot longer than the specified 10 minutes. There’s always next time for refining our technique…
This is what I think we’ll do with these once they’re completely dry: use them for the covers for blank books. I like Angry Chicken’s version with cardstock, cram cream tape, and paper and just sewing it all on the sewing machine. My question is, what on earth is cram cream tape? And what could I use instead?
Hi! My name is Jean and I am mama to two daughters -- a four year old and a newborn. I'm trying to parent in a way that encourages creative expression, imagination, joyfulness, and a love of learning. Thanks for visiting!
Jonah Lisa said
Great project! I had the same question when I saw Amy’s books. Cram Cream Tape??? But it looks pretty cool. I’m sure any decorative
(or even plain) packing tape would do. My other question was, what the heck needle do you put on the machine for paper and cardstock?
Julie Liddle (ART IN HAND) said
I love this activity too. It also works well on fingerpaint paper or the high quality white butcher paper from DSS that has a smooth finish on one side. We’ve never bothered waiting for anything to dry, just swirled, pressed, lifted then scraped the shaving cream off with a plastic scraper (also from DSS)…but anything plastic with a straight edge would work, such as a ruler, a credit card, etc. Makes for great gift wrap on these lighter weight papers, or mounted on a contrasting color of construction paper for displaying.
The Artful Parent said
Jonah Lisa – Not sure which needle to use but I was just going to try with a regular one. It wouldn’t go through the cardstock though, just the paper and tape, since you’ll be sewing it up the center and the cardstock would be slightly away from the center on either side.
Julie – We’ll have to try it again on fingerpaint paper and scraping it off immediately! I think that would produce a better result. Thanks.
candy said
Looks great!! I never did this in my childhood… it’d be interesting to see what the result is on different materials other than cardboard, ie. fabric (wouldn’t it make a great tiedye-like shirt)?
cheers, candy
http://www.carrieanddanielle.com
Christine said
This is such a fun project indeed! Our local ‘paint your own pottery’ place, Fire Fly in Portsmouth, lets us use this technique and it comes out sooo cool once fired on frames!
Elizabeth said
We did this years ago and sent cards to all our family members. They loved them! And it does come out so beautiful. You could always hand sew the binding/book as well. Use a big basting needle and embroidery thread or yarn and just do a stitch around the edge. Little hands can help pull it through and usually love to sew.
The Artful Parent said
Yes, we’ve done hand sewn books with embroidery thread. Maia definitely likes to pull the needle through and help sew! I wanted to try the sewing machine idea too, though. I’m always up for new projects!
Bobbie said
I sewed little books with the machine and had no problems with an ordinary needle… I didnt have any tape though.. I just put the paper and card and zipped it through the machine… it is SO much quicker than hand doing it.. I have done both ways and prefer the machine
juliekintaiwan said
great papers! They’ll make great book covers indeed. Cram cream is a design company (guessing Japanese) that makes cute things. See this flickr group for an idea
http://www.flickr.com/groups/cramcream/
The tape has images on it, here’s a bunch of examples
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26434260@N03/2802907642
You could probably use just regular clear packing tape or duct tape.
The Artful Parent said
Thanks Julie! And Bobbie. It’s good to know that you can sew through cardstock!
threegirlpileup said
Jean, do you think this would work with watercolor paper? I have LOT of it on hand and no cardstock.
I love the idea of sewing the books, my older dd would love this because she could do it herself.
The Artful Parent said
I think watercolor paper would work fine. I’d just follow Julie’s suggestion of wiping off the shaving cream immediately rather than leaving it on.
Jessie (Grow Little Baby) said
Thanks for the great idea…I have not tried this shaving cream idea, but cannot wait to try something new. So far we have painted with Crayola finger paints and Color wonder paints.
I had a slightly different idea on what to do with the finished product. We cut the paper into strips and covered them in clear contact paper to make bookmarks. It is a great keepsake item! I think next time I would laminate them for sturdier bookmarks.
Having Fun at Home said
Very fun idea and great pictures! I’ll be posting a link to this post on my blog soon!
Thanks!