Rewards
Palette Play
Painting! Gotta love it, right? Okay, so maybe you are not a painter but enjoy great art. I have no talent but love to play with color palettes and fiber. I'm also completely passionate about kids and painting! Yes, it's messy but the openness that young children exhibit when creating is beautiful and totally contagious!
How about painting with no paint? Is that a bit more your style? And what a great way to introduce kids (or adults) to fiber, texture, color, and creativity! While it is the new craze, to do yarn painting that is, it isn't a new idea at all. Using unique fibers to paint a picture is an important part of many cultures and continues to be so in the Mexican culture!
Huichol art has its origins in Mexico and yarn painting is just one aspect of their art culture. The unifying factor of the work is the colorful decoration using symbols and designs which date back centuries. The most common and commercially successful products are “yarn paintings” and objects decorated with small commercially produced beads.
How-To
How do we create yarn paintings? Here's what I recommend for the beginner:
1.Materials-Thick cardboard or plywood cut to size wanted for yarn painting, glue, paint brush, paper towels paper, color pencils, and interesting yarns!
2.Draw out your rough design with paper and color pencils.
3.Trace or draw basic design on cardboard or wood.
4.If you are more advanced it will be easier to add wire or other hanging material before you begin working. That way, once your yarn painting is dry, it's ready for hanging or gifting!
5.Cut strips of yarn, cover small area with glue (using paint brush) and add that color beginning in the middle of that section unless you are doing straight lines.
6.Do small areas and build out toward edges.
7.Add beads for embellishment or use DGY beaded yarns.
8. You are working with glue so remember that you may want to wash your hands several times so you don't get stuck to your fibers!
9.Set aside to dry.
Rainy Day FUN
I've included a few images in this blogpost and Picklebums.com shows some yarn painting creations to get you thinking as well. Color is predominant in yarn painting and has me also thinking about texture to give the piece greater depth.
Kids love crafting and as we head into the months where we hunker down more, yarn painting is an exceptional idea for kid projects. This is one of those projects that can be done with little ones all the way to adult. So get your Darn Good Yarns and figure out your palette and get painting, yarn painting that is!