Finger Ice Painting (A Confession)

Remember the finger painting post from a few weeks ago? And how I introduced it as a failure but it didn’t seem too bad in the pictures I posted? That’s because it wasn’t the whole story… See, when the first batch turned out lumpy due to being distracted by cute kiddos, I decided to make a second batch. This one was going to be PERFECT. I was going to do it while BooBoo Bear watched “Monkey George” (that Curious monkey is a favorite in our house) and while Goofy Girl was down for nap so that I could do it distraction free. It worked! I was able to mix all the ingredients in, get the paint poured into the ice cube tray, AND add the food dye with little to no distractions. BUT… while it was cooling I remembered that I’d only put 2 Tablespoons of sugar in instead of the 3. “Oh well” said I, “how big of a difference could that have made?” The answer: a HUGE difference. It had a really hard time sticking to the paper and when it dried, there was a greasy ring around it. 2 weeks later, the paint is chipping off the paper, while my original paintings are still in perfect shape.

There was another problem with this development- I’d set half of this second batch aside for the activity I’m posting about here. While I’d been looking for potential post ideas I’d come across this great idea for freezing paints and then using the paint cubes to make abstract paintings using salt to melt them. Since I have young children and I’m so good at spilling art supplies on things they might chew on later, I wanted it to be non-toxic paint. When I later found this finger paint recipe, I decided to freeze some, put it into a baggy, and try this out a couple of weeks later.

 When I messed up the batch, I was scared that it wouldn’t work out the way I’d hoped, but guess what, IT DID! It worked out fabulously! This is truly an unique and fun idea.

I pulled the paint out, got out the first paint cube, sprinkled some salt (just a tiny bit of table salt) on both sides and waited a bit. 

The color comes out a little faint, but I love the effect it has!

I did this a little too late in the day for BooBoo to join, but I can’t wait to try it out with him!

Recipe (as a refresher):

Recipe:

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

Directions

In a medium pan, mix the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Then, turn the burner to low and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. (DO NOT LEAVE. Trust me.) After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.Then transfer into desired containers, in this case ice cube trays. Add food coloring (natural dyes would work well with this recipe too). Then pop into the freezer. Once frozen, you can use them right away or put into a zippered baggy for later. Once you're ready to use them, pull them out and put some table salt on either side. Wait a few minutes and then have fun! 

By the way- on this same craft day I came across a homemade glue recipe I am in love with! Ive now had it for 2 weeks and it still works! I will be posting that, as well as ways to use it, in just a couple of weeks. I want to try a few tweaks to see if it still works when you change out ingredients.

What do you think about ice painting? What would you do with it?