We've long been intrigued by sunprints, but kinda figured it was one of those projects that looks beautiful on the packaging (or when done by Martha Stewart), but is hard to pull off by Average Jane Crafter (or, in our case, below average). So when we saw this gorgeous framed sunprint made by Verity and her 1.5-year old son Yasher, we began to feel hopeful. More of their sunprint experiments after the jump.
Even very young children can take part in making sunprints by accompanying you on a nature walk (or scavenging around the houes) to find objects you'd like to use. Except for the overnight drying, the process only takes a few minutes so kids can have the satisfaction of seeing what they've made.
Verity walks you through making sunprints with accompanying photos on her fabulous blog The Light Garden. You'll especially enjoy her Making Mondays series with lots of ideas for things to make, many with or for young children. She is also an artist and has an Etsy shop stocked with the sweetest prints.
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I just did one of these with my 3 year old an hour ago! We did a trial run for our Papa Party tomorrow. I had to have an easy craft for my husbnad to manage as I am planning the party but then leaving so it's just a father & kid party. It turned out brilliantly and my son loved it. I would recommend trying it.
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My youngest sister and I used to do cyanotype prints when she was kindergarten aged (and I was home between college semesters). The craft stuck with her as a fond memory, so I got her a bunch of cyanotype fabric for her recent high school graduation. She and friends can now craft dormroom accessories with abandon.
I ordered from here: http://www.bluesunprints.com/. Excellent place; friendly owner handled complex shipping issue with ease.
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Si: Excellent craft to do with kids that keeps them occupied (outside!) for hours. Just having them fill a basket with possible print objects can take over an hour. It has broad gender, age, and interest appeal, which is considerable bouns. It's also a great "gateway" craft for teaching anything from sets to solar radiation.
Yes, there are some chemicals involved, but put a pair of rubber gloves on a kid and it's amazing how quickly some will slip into "Look at me, I'm so grown up" mode.
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Thanks Jax, I hadn't thought of the gloves, I just did all the handling of the paper and he picked the objects and got to help rinse and since it said to set it up in a dimly lit room before taking it outside, I had him bring out his super cool flashlight and we made it a cool little project where he was in charge of lighting. Also, we laid out some chipboard letters to spell his name with the leaves around them to personalize it even more. So fun how you can spin things to make them feel so important and see how special they feel (as they absolutely should, of course!).
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Ohhh...flashlights! I'll be adding that bit next time. Perhaps it will work for the kids that aren't fooled by the added responsibility imparted by gloves. ;)
Letters are also a great idea.
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