Color Diffusion

Materials | Step-by-Step | Extras

Materials

Age Range: 2+

Time to Complete: 25 minutes

Supplies Needed

  • Paper

  • Plastic sandwich bags or coffee filters

  • Markers

  • Spray bottle filled with water

  • Pencils (optional)

  • Black permanent marker (optional)

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Step-By-Step

1. With a sandwich bag or coffee filter placed in front of you, use markers to color any design that you choose to cover the surface of the bag or coffee filter.

2. Lay down a sheet of white paper or cardstock and lightly spray the sheet with water. Do not completely saturate the paper.

3. Place the sandwich bag or coffee filter, marker side down onto the wet paper. Start with one edge and slowly press down inch by inch to flatten the two materials together. You want to give the water time to absorb the marker.

4. Remove the sandwich bag from the paper. The colors will have diffused together and have created a watercolor effect on the paper.

Step 3 - adding details.jpg

Optional:

After the paper has dried, take a pencil to begin drawing a silhouette of any object, landscape, or person you wish and fill the outlined spaces with a permanent black marker.

Extras

Watercolor: Pigment in a water-soluble vehicle, usually gum arabic. Paintings done with this medium are known as watercolors. 

Diffusion: the movement of anything in a high concentration to a low concentration. In this case, the spreading of color in water. 

Texture: The surface quality of materials, either actual (tactile) or implied (visual). It is one of the elements of art.  

Variety: A principle of art concerned with combining one or more elements of art in different ways to create interest.