Monday, September 12, 2011

egg paint

We did an art history lesson today about artists from the 1200's who made their own paint. They mixed berries or minerals or dried insects with egg yolks to make a bright tempura paint.
Here's how we made our own paint. I mixed three egg yolks (I ate the the whites for breakfast and kept the yolks aside for this project) with 2 teaspoons water. I "forked" it (which is what little Dean calls whisking) until it was frothy.  Then we went outside and found two good rocks.
I filled an empty egg carton with colored chalk and let the kids crush the chalk with the rocks.
Then I spooned small amounts of the egg yolks into the crushed chalk and the kids stirred with a paintbrush. Then they painted pictures on newsprint paper.
Little Dean made a family of dinosaurs and Millie g. made flowers. Egg painting is fun.

1 comment:

  1. That sounds like lots of fun! Reminds me of a book we studied called Marguerite Makes a Book, and she made her paints with eggs and other natural ingredients (set in the Middle Ages). Your kids are going to think school is the greatest!

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