My daughter’s last term project was exploring artists. With little time to spare (due the following day!!) and a Matisse exhibition in town and a little pinterest for inspiration (saw a balloon covered in leaves) and inspiration hit hard – we would make a matisse cut out egg!
We cut some shapes in card, made some modge podge glue (flour and water cooked together!)
then started gluing the shapes on a balloon (standing on a glass)
– we left to dry overnight and popped the balloon the next day!
I was highly dubious that it would work, but it did!! Very happy results…
Update:
I am really happy to say that the Matisse egg has been a bit of a hit on Pinterest over the past few months, and I have been so touched to see it so appreciated.
it has been featured in a number of great creative blogs (thank you so much Hello Wonderful!, Buzzfeed, 2soulsisters) and it’s truly been wonderful to hear that this has inspired so many people.
You can find further craft ideas here such as the nature drawing table, leaf crafts and woodland creatures.
I am also an illustrator, creating custom portraits – you can find my shop on Etsy, find out how I work and my price list. I do take international orders.
This looks fantastic! I wonder if you could do the something similar with leather or vinyl offcuts?
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Ooh, that would be so interesting to try! I guess you’d have to get the right kind of glue – and make sure the materials dry fully, which could take a while? Let me know if you do try! I want to do this with autumn leaves too….
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Love this project! Planning to do it with a class of fourth graders next week. I am wondering if you added sugar to your flour water mod-lodge mixture? Or did you just add enough water to flour to make a thick paste?
My daughter & I did a trial run with watered down Elmer’s & besides the mess it doesn’t seem to be holding well- thinking it is not thick enough?
Thanks so much for the inspiration!
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I think we cooked it until thick enough – but you could try with sugar! So many recipes on pinterest!
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does straight mod lodge work?
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I think it should, yes, but haven’t tried it! I think as long as it’s properly dry, it should work fine!
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Looks great! What kind of paper exactly did you use? Was thinking construction paper? Thank you!
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Thank you! I used fairly ordinary paper, a little thicker than normal, but not card, which I worried might not take the glue so well. Think coloured paper you get from craft shops, not craft paper, if that makes sense! Will try to find the weight reference for you!
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Do you put the paste on the bottom an top of paper or just the top?
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Very liberally and all over, the paper/ card becomes quite wet, which helps with the shaping – and we re-applied the mixture as the paper was on the balloon.
Sharea piconce you’re done, would love to see yours!!
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Does the balloon get stuck to the glue and paper? Did you put something on the balloon to make it non-stick?
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Once the glue is dry, the balloon gets unstuck pretty easily! But worth using slightly thick card so that it is strong enough to support itself 🙂
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My balloon popped overnight – anyone have an idea what I did wrong
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It’s hard to tell, the balloon migh have had a fault? See this thread http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=19602.0
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I’d like to try this with my art club next week. Could you use pva glue?
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I haven’t tried but I don’t see why not! Maybe worth doing a test first? Let me know how it goes, would love to see pictures!
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Look so nice! is it okay if I spray paint the dry product? 🙂
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I haven’t tried, but why not!!! Let me know how it goes 🙂 Or went!!
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Look so nice! Is it okay if I spray paint the dry product?
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Thank you!! Never tried but as long as the paper is sturdy enough, i don’t see why not? Would love to see the results!
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I tried 2 attempts with liberal amounts of mod podge and let dry overnight. Both collapsed. Can you share more specifics about your flour water glue and how prepared?
Thanks.
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Hi there! I wonder if it’s the glue or the paper? It’s best to use slightly sturdy card, which will be a bit more resistant when wet? Just a thought!
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Yea…it was a card stock. Did your flour mixture get cooked on the stove? 1/2 and 1/2? How quickly do you have to use the mixture? I teach art in my attic and next week we add the balloon and glue step.
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Did you say that you heated the flour water mixture first?
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Hi there, yes the mixture does need to be cooked – here are a few potential recipes! http://m.wikihow.com/Make-Mod-Podge
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Is the paper you used more like scrapbook paper rather than true card stock? Thanks!
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It wasn’t thick card for sure, but it did have a bit of oomph!
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