Coloring sand can be tricky as you need to know what sand you can color and what dais you need to use
choosing the sand , and this is where you start sand comes in deferent colors to start with Wight and brownish colors ,brownish colors are good to use as is some times and also good to make black sand but they will never be any use to make any bright colors or light colors
so you might want to get your self some Wight children play sand , or if u happen to near the beach where you can find that then you are in the right place for that
some sand comes in different colors and ready to be used as is like the one found in Petra Jordan you can get all sort of colors there even oranges and violets . collecting that sand can be a very nice adventure for kids as well to get them involved in the make of there art work besides is much more fun than working from a ready made kit that's out together in a factory so look around where you live am sure your findings will surprise you when u start your hunt no matter what part of the world you are in
now after getting the sand sift it to how fine u want it using different sift gives different result naturally , saves you coloring bits u will bin in the end of the process , but if your not worried about waste then skip this and start coloring straight away
the sand needs to be dry to go in the sift but after that job is done you need to wet it again , so apply some water so its humid but doesn't need to be soaked
just a little bit wet for the paint or dye to stick to it
once its wet you are ready to color it so what coloring do we use ?
there are many different methods ,and there is no wrong way of doing it depending what u need the sand for ,do you need permanent colors if so then use printing water based ink
or if u need it to be safe for children then use normal ready mixed children water based paints as well make sure its a none toxic paint as it will not react to the sand and change afterward so if u start nontoxic u will end being also nontoxic , children do have this instant of testing everything in there mouth so do take it seriously that u use a nontoxic ones :) and make sure its water based
the best result comes with powder paint with children and it take a allot less effort for the color to set as well
how much do u need to use?
well it depends how strong u want to color to be so its a try and error process and always remember there no wrong way in doing it and u will notice that u will need allot less when u are working with dark colors they seem to over power the sand much quicker
now how to do it is also very simple apply the color wither its powder ready mixed or permanent water based color to your sand and start scrubbing it ,using gloves will very wise in this process also if u want to add to the fun have the kids join you
most of there paints are washable so a bit a mess wouldn't harm anyone and we all have washing machines :)
keep scrubbing it together until u start feeling that the color isn't getting any stronger from doing that
the more you scrub it the stronger the color will get and the brighter it will look , it should take you a good 20 min to scrub 5 KG of sand properly .
if you are doing a few colors at the time its wise to stat with the light ones as some will stick to your gloves and will show on the next color u r working on
once the scrubbing is done put it on a sheet under the sun and let it dry naturally , if u unlucky with the sun radiators can do the same job
just leave it next to the radiators and it will dry the sand as good as the sun
some colors will fade after u dry them so don't frown ,it just mean u need to use more of it next time that's all and remember there is no wrong way in doing it , once sand is dry again run it throw you siff and its ready for use
hope you all have good fun with it and your little ones and leep in mind craft is all about fun doing it , if this sound too much work you can always buy it ready made for you from craft suppliers around you or on here as well
it can be expensive to ship sand thou if its a small project you doing buying it it will be allot less messy option and it also can get expensive buying it as it takes allot of effort to color it as you can see
in sand gallery we use big mixers and permanent colors that are more expensive than the usual home made coloring methods
but in the end of the day its not rocket science and if we can do it so can you
Article submitted Friday, July 25, 2008 & read 381 times.
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