Snowflake Pinstrosity

"Pinstrosity" = Pinterest monstrosity... Usually a handmade item that was inspired by something that looked awesome on Pinterest, but turns out much less than awesome in real life.

Like this snowflake artwork.

#nailedit

I'm not blaming the kids here. I am responsible for those poor torn and tattered snowflakes.

It's called "tape-resist painting." I got the idea from a "pin" I saw from the website Play, Create, Explore. And not only did I think "Hey, I can totally do that with Calvin," I actually thought "Hey, I can totally do that even more awesom-er!" 

Mmm hmmm. 

My brilliant plan for a more awesom-er tape-resist snowflake was to use my favorite skinny washi tape to make beautiful and delicate snowflakes. Washi tape, in my experience, doesn't have very strong adhesive and I've always appreciated that it's pretty easy to peel off. So I thought it would be great for tape-resist painting. 

I only had one piece of nice, shiny fingerpaint paper left so I made Calvin a beautiful and delicate snowflake with my skinny washi tape on our last piece of shiny fingerpaint paper, and then I made Henry a slightly less beautiful snowflake on printer paper. I wasn't optimistic about peeling the washi tape off of the printer paper. I expected it to be problematic, but I also knew that Henry was probably going to do his share of destroying the paper in his artistic process so I wasn't too worried about it. And I was completely certain that my favorite skinny washi tape would peel off beautifully from Calvin's shiny fingerpaint paper. 

Mmm hmmm. 

After Calvin finished with his big snowflake, he wanted to do more, so I made him another snowflake picture on printer paper. 

So at that point we had 3 snowflake pictures drying. I decided to start peeling the tape off while the paint was still wet because I thought that the longer the tape stayed on the paper the harder it would be to peel off. I didn't think the wet paint would be a problem. 

I started with Henry's, which (as predicted) he had crushed and crunched with his little hands and teeth - yes, teeth. That's just how Henry does art, ok? Next time we'll do yogurt again, or something else that's more edible than fingerpaint ;) Anyway, as I tried to peel the tape off of the printer paper, chunks of the paper were peeling off with the tape (as predicted). Kind of a bummer, and it looked like a pretty bad mess, but I was still looking forward to doing Calvin's because I was still sure that it was going to work out beautifully thanks to my favorite washi tape and the shiny paper.

Henry's masterpiece

As I started peeling the tape off of his big snowflake picture, Calvin came over to watch me. And as chunks of that shiny, fancy fingerprint paper started peeling off along with the washi tape and his beautiful blue, sparkly paint... Calvin saw exactly what was happening and in his precious tiny voice he exclaimed, "Oh no!" 

I felt like a monster. 

I was destroying his snowflake picture. And I didn't stop, either. I went for it and peeled all the tape off and, well, you can see the result.

I mean, you can still tell it's a snowflake...

Only then did I get on the interweb to look for advice on tape-resist art. And only then did I read that it's better to wait for the paint to dry before peeling off the tape. Um, hee hee. Oops. 

So, ok. There was still one more picture that I hadn't yet destroyed at that point, so I left it to dry. Meanwhile, Calvin and I had a conversation about how Mama was sorry she messed up his picture and how sometimes we try things and they don't work out and we can try again. To which Calvin responded with an enthusiastic "Uh-huh!" (meaning yes, let's try again). 

So I racked my brain for another brilliant idea. I didn't have any more fingerpaint paper and I just didn't trust that darn printer paper to work well with the tape. I knew canvas or wood would work, but I didn't have those lying around to use for a little Christmas Countdown art project. I do have a lot of scrapbook paper, though, especially cardstock. And I figured, cardstock is a little hardier than regular paper, and the kind I have is a little bit glossy, so I thought maybe it would do the trick if I followed the advice to let the paint dry. 

I made another beautiful and delicate snowflake for Calvin, this time on a big sheet of white cardstock. Calvin did his thing with the paint and the glitter. (He loved getting to use glitter!) And this time, I hung it up to dry and left it alone until the next day. 

So the following morning, I peeled the tape off of the last printer paper picture, and the one on the cardstock. 

printer paper

cardstock

Ta-da! Not perfect, but much better, I think. Calvin didn't say "Oh no!" this time :) And now I know, if I ever decide to do tape-resist paintint again... Wait until the paint is dry to peel off the tape, and it's probably best to stick with painter's tape or masking tape. 

Not my first "Pinstrosity" and won't be my last, I'm sure! Poor Calvin! The things he has to put up with from me trying to be all crafty and artsy! #smh