Smoky Crafts
By Sylvie DeLorn
We interrupt your regular scheduled programming to bring you...science!
Now, before my so called "work space" here at SOUP gets cluttered with notices bout how "science isn't an art or craft!" hear me out. That's half the fun of crafts, sometimes there has to be little dashes of elements that nobody can pronounce, well except nerdy chemists. But don't fret my dear crafters, we will make beautiful art for this beautiful month! As this time, we're going to paint with milk.
For this, we're going to need:
1. A shallow container (such as a plate or a small cookie sheet)
2. Milk
3. Food colouring
4. Dish soap
5. An optional cotton swab (the grape vine says that this can be done without one, but it might be wise to keep one nearby)
I) Firstly, you're going to need to fill up the shallow container with milk. This doesn't have to be completely full, but enough that it has formed a puddle within the container.
II) With your selected colours, place a few drops of each colour in. Now you don't want these to fully mix right away, if you go the route without the swab then you'll want to have the clusters of colours away from one another.
III) Take your soap and add it to the colours! This can either be done by adding it directly in the middle of the dyes or by putting it on a cotton swab and then placing the swab in the middle of the dye. Either way should result in the same beautiful masterpiece.
Now, like any good magician I'll never tell you the tricks that go behind what makes this piece act the way it does, just like I would never tell why rubbing alcohol will make a white placement on water colour paints. You can make this for just about anyone that you want to know how cool and amazing at magic you are.
Or, if the need would come and you don't feel like seeing this piece, you can just wash it right down the sink. But please, don't attempt to drink it. I'm not certain that food dye and milk make very good companions in the stomach of a normal person.
Happy crafting,
Sylvie