Making Kid’s Art Vintage: Skittles

After searching high and low throughout the house, I finally found the art projects I was looking for. This was a required art project for all 6th graders — until they eliminated the project this year — just when my 3rd 6th grader was coming through. I was able to get two candy wrapper art murals before they halted the project.

Was it too hard? Yes, I know, from experience, this was a difficult and challenging art project. I watched the boys labor over the measurements and calculations so that they could transfer the exact dimensions of the candy wrapper art onto graph paper. Then, filling in the pencil sketch was labor intensive — the mural is large, as you can see from Rosie checking it out.

The “art” itself is simply painted onto flimsy paper… and needless to say, some of the acrylic paint was starting to flake off. This was not made to last.

So, to turn this candy wrapper mural into a piece I could hang, I first went to the hardware store and bought a piece of plywood as my husband cut it to the dimensions to match the piece of paper. Next, I glued the paper down, carefully onto the wood… and then disaster….

As soon as the glue hit the black paint, the paint started to smear all over the art.

Wonderful. Here I am trying to preserve their hard work, and now it’s smeared. Then, as soon as the glue dried, the entire plywood, art and all, started to warp.

At this point, the art was pretty much destined to the burn pile. And I was heart-sick.

So, I took the disaster to a framing shop for advice — which was the smartest thing I could have done.

First off, they said to get some reinforcements — and build a box around the plywood. Four strips, around the back. You won’t even need to nail them, they said — just use glue.

That worked. As soon as the glue dried, the plywood straightened itself back and it was flat again.

Now — to tackle the smears.

There are no pictures here — because I assumed this was a dead-in-the-water-project, and it was unsalvagable. I wanted no memories — because these candy wrappers hold quite a bit of sentimental value to the boys –and me.

But, I forged ahead, not too hopeful, and started to paint over the smears with acrylic paint. And you know what? It turned out great. I must have had a guardian angel guiding the brush, because I cannot paint.

Yet — here you have it.