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THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

500 Harris St Ultimo

PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238

Australia

Tel: 02 6217 0111

http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

This work is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Salt crystal watercolour art

Discover why salt naturally absorbs moisture. We use thesnowflake patterns created by sprinkling salt crystals on

watercolour paint to make Christmas cards. They can be

used to make all sorts of beautiful art.

Time:1 hour

Difficulty:Hints: Non absorbent paper, dark colouredinks and fine grained salt will make the bestsnowflake effects.

Either draw a shape on your

paper or leave it blank to

cut out shapes later. Mix up

a dark coloured ink. Paint

in large strokes over your

page.

1.

Quickly sprinkle salt over

your paint. Try to scatter

salt over all areas of

your painted surface. Try

to avoid piles of salt as

individual grains work best.

2.

You will notice that as

the salt is soaked up

towards the salt crystals it

forms patterns similar to

snowflakes.

3.

Paint different colours so

that you have a variety to

choose from. Dark colours

will show the effect better.

Try stripes of different

colours or patterns.

4.

Allow to dry fully then,

using a piece of paper or

your fingers, scrape off all

the salt. This should reveal

a snowflaked pattern..

5.

Use your patterned paper

to create cards and

decorations. You will find

more ideas for your artworkon page 2 and templates

you could use on page 3.

6.

thick white paper/card

water

a pallette or plate

inks or watercolours in

dark shades

wide paint brush

protected workbench

coloured card

a pencil or pen

fine grained salt

What you will need:

500 Harris st. Ultimo

PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238Australia Tel: 02 9217 0111

http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

Creative Commons Licence for use of this work

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Australia Licence (CC BY-NC 3.0 AU)

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/au/

The success of this activity depends upon thepaper not being too absorbent. If the paint soaksinto the paper too quickly, the salt wont havetime to absorb it and create the snowflake effects.Darker paint colours work best as they will showthis effect better. Fine grained salt crystals willabsorb better than larger grains.

Note:

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Page 2

500 Harris St Ultimo

PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238

Australia

Tel: 02 6217 0111

http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

This work is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

ShareAlike 2.5 License.

THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

What is going on?

Salt is hygnoscopic

This means it absorbs moisture

from the environment around it.

Salt makes you thirsty

The same thing is happening in your mouth when

you eat salty foods. The salt will absorb your saliva

and leave you feeling dry.

Snowflake patterns

When you sprinkle salt on a watercolour painting

the water around each grain is drawn towards it

and absorbed into it.

The grain of salt sucks the water towards it and

brings the pigment with it. The pigment collects

around the grain and then dries. When you brush

the salt off you will find a dark dot of pigment and a

clear area around it.

Salt crystal watercolour art

What else can I do?

As well as Christmas cards we created bookmarks,

gift tags and tree decorations.

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Page 3

500 Harris St Ultimo

PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238

Australia

Tel: 02 6217 0111

http://play.powerhousemuseum.com

This work is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

ShareAlike 2.5 License.

THE SCIENCE LAB

Make & Do Activity Kit

9