the magic of salt in watercolor

I recently came across this beautiful watercolor painting over at Simple Art Project Ideas.

It looks really incredible I think (as though great talent and skill are involved), but it turns out a child can make it!  These are the first tries of my six year old and I which we finished in about half an hour (plus drying time).

The painting is done on a piece of heavy watercolor paper with the edges, tree shapes and moon blocked out with painter's tape.  The crisp borders go on as wide as one would like while the tree trunks and branches use torn tape to give their edges a more natural look.  After the tape is smoothed down, the whole thing is painted and sprinkled with salt.  Yup, salt!  Who'd have thought this culinary staple would create such magic?  We let ours dry for about 40 minutes (more might be necessary depending on the wetness of the piece) and then carefully removed the tape and salt.  Lastly, while we did not, one might then choose to hand paint embellishments on the trees or wherever desired.

In Tamara's piece, as well as in those we created, I thought the crystalline forms looked more like leaves than snow or stars so we tried out some alternate compositions with this in mind.

The most difficult portion of this project was tearing the tape.  When my six year old wanted to do one of her own then, she skipped the trees and just went for cutting a moon to stick in a beautiful night sky.  (Hers is the one in the middle above.)

With this one, I thought it might be interesting to make the "leaves" yellow and so painted an under layer and let it dry prior to adding the final paint and salt.

It needs a little tweaking, but I still love the idea and the possibilities of a tree or alternate scene for each season.  We were using coarse grain salt on these.  I'm wondering what a finer sprinkling might do, especially for the star effect?

Spoiler Alert:  If you're on my Christmas card list, a certain element of surprise in our holiday greetings may now be lacking.

fruit loop

We try to make it most years to the Fruit Loop out by Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge.  It's another of our days of wholesome family fun on a 35-mile, scenic drive through a valley of orchards, forests, farmlands, and friendly communities. We stop at a few farms to sample delicious fruits and take our favorites home and also take part in some of the fun family activities hosted at Fruit Loop locations.
Our favorite stop is Rasmussen's where Naiya always loves the corn maze and gets a kick out of Pumpkin Funland.  This year it had a London Olympics theme.

 

a little goofy...

...but a lot of fun.

Our second stop was a new one this year. At Draper Girls Country Farm we got some delicious apples to add to the tasty pears we had picked up at Rasmussen and enjoyed the goats, the swing and a walk through the cornfield and orchards.

Our last stop on the Loop was also an old favorite because of the grand fort/castle structure that we so enjoy there.  Kiyokawa Family Orchards also has a delicious and extensive apple and pear selection. 

A few years ago we had taken this ridiculous photo of Ryan and Naiya playing in the super cool castle. 

Sometimes I have a strange wish to recreate goofy moments so I made them pose there again this time around. 

 It was an absolutely gorgeous day and, I'm not exactly sure why, but it was also one of the best family outings we have ever had.

harvest festival

The Autumn Harvest has long been a time to celebrate the plenty and hard work of the seasons just past. Traditionally ample food was available at this time of year and farming folk began to be freed up from long, hard working days.  In our lives, the bustle of the start of the school year, the backyard gardening and the girl-child's birthday have passed and we have a moment of pause before the holiday season begins.  

The weather is changing and the light is beginning to fade even as we hold on to the last days of sunshine and short sleeves.  It's the time of year when gratitude comes easily and many seem to feel genuinely thankful for all the goodness in our lives. 

We celebrate these internal and external changes with our Waldorf school community at the annual Harvest Festival.  It's a day of family fun that includes singing, square dancing, a puppet show, music, crafts and a community potluck.

Families bring the fruits and seeds of their home harvests for exchange and the children enjoy the simple activities and rambunctious outdoor play on the beautiful grounds.

We picked up a copy of the new community cookbook, carved our Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, made corn dolls and pumpkin necklaces and even got in a bit of square dancing after lunch.

Another lovely festival and traditional gathering to carry us into the coming season.

Golden light is turning grey,
Mists begin to rule the day.
Bare the trees, their branches lift;
Clouds of dead leaves earthward drift.
Through the field the farmer goes,
Seeds of ripened corn he sows
Trusts the earth will hold it warm,
Shelter it from cold and harm.
For he knows that warmth and light
Live there, hidden from our sight;
And beneath a sheltering wing,
Deep below, new life will spring!

this year's birthday treasure hunt

As in year's past, for Naiya's birthday we hosted a gathering at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island.  Once again we put together a little treasure hunt with some natural, hand made gifts for all the wee ones.  Some Waldorf friends of mine occasionally ask about ideas for natural party favors, so I thought I'd share this year's collection.

We began with a basket full of gathering bags made from twill tape and scraps of felted sweaters.  The children were able to fill the bags with treasures along the way and then take them home to use and fill with all manner of leaves, pine cones, stones and whatnot on their seasonal nature walks.

A birthday’s a day for the special one
But we like for everyone to have fun!
Using this bag collect riches you spot
Your parents can help (just a bit or a lot)
Begin looking high where a fairie might rest
Your first prize awaits there and clues to the rest...

 The felt piece measured about 6" x 18" and was stitched onto a 3' length of twill tape leaving a few inches to be folded over for a flap.  I had thought of them as gathering bags but with quite a few left at the end of our party, I fear some of the boys may have seen them more as "purses" and opted to carry their treasures in their pockets instead.







In a tree nearby, the children found their second item and a fairie offering a clue to the next.

We hope you can find your own name in this tree
Right after this there are more things to see
A gnome watches over a tiny collection
of critters to share - find and make your selection

The idea for these name tag pendants came from those worn by some children I spied at summer camps in the wild parks of Portland.  The wood rounds were cut from a branch of a hazelnut tree that our neighbor had left on the curb for firewood and we wrote the names with a wood burner pen.  






The tree fairie lead the adventurers to our garden gnome who overlooked a field of sweet critters.

Into your pouch one sweet critter will go
Which one you’ll chose, only you know
Next look for pixies who seldom we spy
Perhaps their small village is somewhere nearby

With so many children in attendance this year, I cheated a bit and purchased one of the prizes.  We found these little glass critters at Audubon Society of Portland's Nature Store.








After tarrying a bit with our gnome and selecting a critter, the children were led to a pixie village.  The pixies (as is often the case) were not to be found, but they left their little homes for the kids to have as their own.

The pixies away by the wind have been blown
But they’ve left you their houses to have for your own
Tuck one into your bag now, then run off and play
We ‘re so happy you joined us for this special day

These are surprisingly simple and quick to make.  They're formed out of Super Sculpey and baked in the oven for half an hour.  I painted them with water colors and I think this gives them a nice translucent, magical quality.  The downside is that the watercolors will just wash off if they get wet.  I figured that made them, in the long run, a more interactive play thing... the children could repaint them themselves!

sand castle for our michaelmas nature table

This year we found inspiration for our Michaelmas Nature Table at school in the Waldorf kindergarten next door to our own.  (For a view of the aforementioned inspiration click here.)  When I first presented the idea to Ryan he thought I was a little crazy.  A Michaelmas sandcastle in our living room?  All kinds of crises unwanted are sure to arise from such an endeavor.  (Sand everywhere, cats... child horrified at the imminent crumbling, cats... child throwing sand in the house, cats... you get the idea.)
Well, I decided to do it anyway.  So entranced by the idea I was.
After a week or so of looking up methodology on Google, I finally had the brilliant thought to ask the actual creator of my inspiration how such a thing were possible in a room full of young children.   "Cornstarch", she told me.  It's the magic that makes it all possible.  Cornstarch keeps the whole thing from just crumbling into a heap when the children bump the table or prod at the final glory.
And so I began...

All I used was:
-sand
-water
-corn starch
-old plastic cups and yogurt containers
-a palette knife (any kind of  knife or even a popsicle stick would have worked)

  

  I filled a bucket with play sand that I harvested from our summer sand box.  (I understand that fine beach sand is always better for making castles but I don't have a beach handy and after I sifted out the larger gravelly bits from the sand with a sieve, the play sand seemed to work just fine.)
  To the half bucket of sand I added the whole box of corn starch and really stirred this together before the next step.





  I then added enough water and really stirred it in to make the mixture very wet but not overly soupy.  (About a gallon?)

  Now, what does a castle look like?  The first one I started looked like a sheet cake with a strange disease and I swept it all back into the bucket and started over.  I'd suggest looking up castle images online or in children's books.  Have a plan and then proceed...  Your castle certainly doesn't have to look like mine!

  I happened to have a piece of plywood laying around that just fit my Nature Table so I used that for my base.  (I did this messy work outside and then carried the completed castle in once it was finished.)

 I started the actual castle sculpting by making turrets.  I squeezed the sand in my hands to draw out as much water as possible before dropping tennis ball sized globs into my forms.

 I then patted them down hard with the palms of my hands.

  A lot of water oozed out the bottom of the forms as I did this and that was soaked up with an old towel.

  It's important to really compact the sand and dry it as much as possible so that the sand holds when the form is removed.

  To make taller turrets, several cup forms were stacked, filled and patted.  (The lower cups should still be in place when the upper cups are put on top.)

  After the proper height was reached, the forms were gently pulled away.

  (If things start to go awry and fall apart, don't worry.  It's sand!  Just throw any disasters back in the bucket and start again.)

When all my turrets were in place, the walls were built by again dropping tennis ball sized clumps of sand in a line.  I patted them down, formed them a bit with my hands and then did more precise cutting with my palette knife.  It was kind of like slicing cake.  (Of course, not all castles will even have these kind of stark edges and lines.  The castle that inspired this all, for example, was much more organic and natural looking.)

  To make that classic castle wall edge (there's a name for this but I have no idea what it is), I again used my palette knife and sliced and lifted out the little rectangular pieces.

  For windows, I simply carved into the turret walls with my trusty knife.

(One could get really detailed and carve "bricks" or more elaborate windows into all the walls but I didn't really have it in me... with all the possible cat and child destruction on the horizon... know what I mean?)

  I added a little stairway between the lower and upper levels and then had to give a fair amount of thought to how to top the whole thing off.

  I remembered when I was a kid how at the beach we used to make these cool drip castles using very sloshy, wet water.  I thought that would make a neat pointy roof for the turrets, so I added more water to my remaining sand mixture

  I transferred some of that into a smaller cup that I could hold closer to my project and scooped up and dripped the wet, slushy water from my hand onto the tops of the towers.

  I thought it gave the classic castle a more whimsical, natural look which fits into my daughter's gentler, fanciful style of play.


  More on Michaelmas in the days to come...