DIY watercolors

So, my kids are always wanting to paint. I do think that I have a couple of budding artists in my girls.  The problem with that is that art supplies can be expensive. I usually try to buy extra when the school sales are on, but it's never enough!  I ran out of watercolors, and was wondering if I could do it myself. I found lots and lots of recipes, but they're all pretty much the same. We tried it and they work pretty good for a child's palate. I'm not sure how long they will last, or how colorfast they are, but the kids loved them and that's what matters.

 

 

So here's the recipe I used, and it filled up two ice cube trays.  More than enough for 2 girls to paint with.

Watercolors:
1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons corn syrup (I didn't have any so I used pancake syrup, and it worked fine.)
1 cup of corn starch
food coloring (powder or gel work better.)

In a medium mixing bowl pour in the baking soda, and mix in the vinegar 1/4 cup at a time. This will fizz, so watch out for it. When the fizzing stops and the mixture is smooth, add in the corn syrup and corn starch.(now would be a good time for a corny joke, ha ha! ) Mixing will become pretty tough. I bent a metal soup spoon and had to switch to a wooden mixing spoon. Once the mixture is thoroughly combined you can start adding it to the ice cube tray or what ever little pods you're going to store your colors in.  I did this using a measuring spoon, and put about a tablespoon and a half of mixture in each well.  After that you get to add your food coloring to each one and mix it in well. After that it's just a matter of letting them dry. Well I guess you wouldn't have to let them dry, you could use them immediately if you wanted to.

This is my oldest daughter's first try at using the paints. She tried mixing a bit, but it would work much better on watercolor paper. This was construction paper, and it worked okay, but it was colored so the watercolor's true colors didn't pop as well.

If you try this recipe, leave a comment and tell me how you think it worked!  Hopefully by next week I will have my DIY Journal done and I will take pictures to show you how I did it.