Tape Resist Butterflies

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/26880929002598652/
I love Pinterest. I get tons of inspiration from it. What I don't like is when I find a seemingly simple, yet creative project and it turns out not-so-simple after all! If you've been following me on Facebook, you'll have seen me sharing several Tape Resist Art pins - while I couldn't do an Easter Egg, I decided that  the process would translate nicely to a butterfly:

First I looked for a butterfly outline - and Pinterest failed me again! I followed this pin to a dead end and then decided to just copy the picture and enlarge it in a PowerPoint document. Next I used some painter's tape to section off my butterfly and proceeded to try the wet chalk method.

FAIL. Big Time. The roughness of even wet chalk was too much for my cardstock to hold up to! The paper started pilling, the color was less than vibrant and I just wasn't impressed. I did this in front of my students, in the morning before breakfast, and while they were excited to try it, I knew that it would have to be tweaked to work with 20 little artists.

 Luckily I'm work best under pressure, so I got out the water color paints for a second try at this tape resist business.

The kids loved it. Some of my least artistically inclined students were the most enthusiastic over the project! I had one little guy, who's usually more enthused about gun-play and wrestling, beg to be able to create another one!

 My awesome assistant was in charge of applying the tape so that all of the butterflies looked different. She came up with some really neat patterns!

 Once the butterflies were dry, it was time to take the tape off. Oh. My. Word! Talk about frustration! That tape stuck to the paper and ripped off layers of cardstock about 1/2 the time. It was tedious and time consuming to remove the tape.The original pin was created by a mom of 2 - and maybe if I had only 2 students, removing the tape wouldn't have been so bad, but I seriously was ready to scrap the whole project in the recycling bin by the end. Luckily my awesome assistant stayed late to help me out - probably because she sensed the butterflies were in imminent danger if she left me with them unattended!

 But.....I have to admit....they turned out beautiful!

These will be gorgeous on our Spring bulletin board display that we are building this week - with several other Pinterest inspired crafts, so cross your fingers for me! Would I ever do tape resist art again? Probably not....but the results are so darned pretty I might forget the pain and try it again next year!

In Science news, Spring means thunderstorms and thunderstorms mean downed tree limbs. We brought this bad boy in for closer examination! My kids also love to bring in rocks "for Science Center" so I set them up with some paintbrushes and water so they could explore how the rocks were transformed when wet.
We discovered some of our "rocks" were actually pieces of bark, and that the rust on the metal ring was very pretty when wet!

I'm hoping to be able to get our chicken eggs in the incubator this week, plus start some of our plants. We're also going to our city-wide Showcase event at the end of April to perform "To the Music" by Bounce Patrol so we're practicing for that like crazy. My biggest fear is that my kiddos will freeze up on stage, so we practice on our school stage during lunch time a few times a week!

Oh! And another thing I'm going to blame on Pinterest! I posted about this idea on Facebook and wondered where to find the eggs with clear lids.

Someone mentioned PetSmart had some, so I took my family to the store on Saturday to see if I could grab some. They didn't have any eggs, but we did come home with these:

As if my life wasn't busy enough, I somehow managed to con my husband into getting 2 female guinea pigs! Why didn't he say no?? They're adorable, and my kids love them, so I'm hoping this isn't one of those chores that is going to fall back on me....although their cage IS located in my office...

Anyways, have a super week! Check back soon for more freebies, pictures of our Chicken Life Cycle unit AND some super awesome giveaways that are in the works!

2 comments:

kathy said...

We have had several guinea pigs over the last 25 years and we love them! Since you have 2, they will be good company for each other! Our current guinea pig in 4 and a half years old. One of ours lived to be 7 and a half years.

Anonymous said...

I loved those butterflies so much I had to give them a try - even with your warning ;) I did find a better way that was VERY successful! I used the "florist" tape (usually green) and then I made sure to tack the ends (outside of the lines of the butterfly) down with masking tape. Also - major important step- you HAVE to take off the tape BEFORE it dries...
Regardless- they are amazing- Our hallway looks wonderful ~I will try to take a picture and share it with you~ Thanks again for sharing the cute idea

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