If seeing paint drip makes me happy, imagine my joy seeing it explode!  All of my family, even my husband…who you can see make his first art journal page in this video here, wanted to join in on this play!

This definitely falls into the “Act like a Kid” theme for this month’s Let’s Play all about rediscovering the ability to play. Each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play.  This month’s theme is act like a kid. You can see more of the Let’s Play series here.

Putting Alka-Seltzer in paint isn’t my idea, it is in all sorts of videos on the internet.  Don’t know who originated it, but they are a genius!  Thank you Linda O’Connor for being the first to introduce me to this fun!

Watch Making colorful papers with exploding paints on YouTube

What is Let’s Play?  It’s all about

Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours!  Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 Dick Blick gift certificate giveaway!

Here’s what you need for exploding paints

• Paint (the wetter or runnier the paint the faster it pops)
• Film canisters (which you can buy online if you don’t have easy access to them)
• Alka-Seltzer tablets broken in half
• Paper to catch the high velocity paint explosions

Safety! We treated these like fireworks, and used common sense precautions that respected the physics of the pressure that builds up in the canisters.  Have plenty of open space, stand back and don’t point a loaded one at anyone.

We filled up all the containers with paint first.  We found the containers about a quarter of the way full had the best color explosions.  Also, if a paint was on the thicker side, we mixed in a touch of water at this stage.  The more liquid, the faster the Alka-Seltzer fizzes.

I have seen videos online with the caps up and the caps down.  We tried it both ways in the video, and I have to say, I love the splatters of the upside down ones the best.

For the canisters where we put them lid up, it can easily fall over on it’s side, just spilling paint in a blob.  A bit of tape on the bottom of the canister kept them from tipping over.

For the canisters where we put the lid down, we did nothing to it, just put it top down on the paper.

No matter which way we put them, they had power.  The lids and canisters had some serious height to them.

There is a lot of paint on here, so it took it quite a while to fully dry, but now I have giant sheets of paper that can be cut up and used for anything mixed media!

When playing with the rainbow, even cleaning up can be colorful!

Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours!  Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 gift certificate giveaway!

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

Sharing your play:   I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating!  We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook?  I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways:  Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org.  Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com?  Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, September 4th at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog the following Monday.

Congrats to Kristiina, last month’s winner!

Why does this art journaling workshop focus on the FUNdamentals?  That’s where confidence and freedom come from when playing!  I’m sharing the principles behind my creative decisions as you see me make the art journal pages so that you can apply them to your play.  Find out more about this workshop here.

Ready to dive in and start playing?  Register before class begins (by Sunday night at 11:59pm EST) on Monday, August 29th, and get 20% off!  Use coupon code Art20

30 day money back guarantee. I want to provide the workshop that is right for you.  If you feel this workshop isn’t for you, I’ll refund your money.

This workshop is designed to fit your schedule. The videos are downloadable so watch them online or offline on your computer or mobile device.  You have the flexibility to watch the lesson the day it comes out or anytime since you have lifetime access to the classroom.  

After this workshop here is just some of what you’ll know:

• 3 sure fire questions you can ask yourself whenever you sit down to art journal so you always know where to start a page
• Easy color theory so that you know how to pick colors and how to avoid making mud
• The magic number to building up layers 
• How to know when a page is finished
• Which glues work with what types of papers and why
• How to deal with the ugly pages, after all we all have them!

Class starts Monday- see you then!