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Spray Painted Turkey Resist Art

Nov 1, 20168,957 views
Art Projects
Ages4+
Prep30 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessHigh
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Lay paper turkey feathers on thick watercolor paper and spray diluted liquid watercolors around them, then lift the feathers to reveal white negative-space feathers. Finish with a construction paper turkey body and googly eyes, and use the colorful removed feathers to make a second turkey.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Spray away from faces and eyes, and keep each child's nozzle pointed down at the paper.
  • Liquid watercolors can stain hands, clothes and surfaces. Cover the table and dress for mess.
  • Googly eyes are small parts and a choking hazard for young children. Supervise closely.
  • An adult or older child handles the scissors when cutting templates.

Before the kids arrive

  • Print a simple turkey feather pattern and cut the feathers from thicker art paper (not printer paper).
  • Cut turkey bodies (and beaks and feet) from construction paper.
  • Fill small spray bottles with diluted liquid watercolors: 2 tbsp liquid watercolor + 4 tbsp water, one bottle per color.

Steps

  1. Set out the spray bottles of diluted liquid watercolors, one per color.

  2. Place a sheet of thick watercolor paper on your art space.

  3. Lay the turkey feather cut-outs in a fan shape on the paper.

  4. Hold the feathers down one by one and spray all around them, one color at a time.

  5. Keep every feather in place until the whole turkey is sprayed.

  6. Give it a second, then gently remove the feathers one by one.

  7. Admire the white turkey feathers left behind on the colorful background.

  8. Glue on a brown construction paper turkey body, then add googly eyes and draw details with markers.

  9. Let the removed colorful feathers dry, then use them to make a second turkey.

Tips

  • Don't make the same mistake my child did! Leave the feathers in place until the entire turkey art is done.from the author
  • Don't print the feathers on regular printer paper. It buckles up as soon as the liquid hits it. A little thicker art paper keeps the feathers in place.from the author
  • You really need super thick, high-quality watercolor paper. Go for a larger/jumbo/XL size since your turkey is wider.from the author
  • You don't need a lot of paint. We still had leftovers for another art project.from the author
  • Some of the feathers got spray paint on them. They are still adorable! Use contact paper feathers if you want clean edges.from the author
  • Love that each turkey has a different personality.from the author
  • Write the month and year on one to keep as a Turkey Keepsake.from the author

Make it your own

  • Cut the feathers from contact paper and stick them down for cleaner, seep-free feathers.
  • Make a second turkey from the colorful removed feathers and add hand lettering like 'Turkey Fun! Thanksgiving!'
  • Date one and display it on the mantle as a yearly Turkey Keepsake.
  • Paint the turkey body brown instead of using construction paper (shown in one photo).

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · November 2016
materials
Fill your mini spray bottles with diluted liquid watercolors, one bottle per color. Mix 2 TBSP of liquid watercolors with 4 TBSP of water, and cut out your turkey feathers.
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Spray Painted Turkey Resist Art: the original post

Time to pull out your small spritzer/spray bottles and create gorgeous, colorful negative space turkey art for Thanksgiving. You know, any kind of resist art always turn out amazing! That’s its charm. There is no going wrong with resist art projects and we have done a fair share of ours - heart resist art, animal figures resist art, crayon resist art, spray bottle resist art with letters, glue resist art, cracked wax resist art For this Turkey season, we are creating colorful turkeys with spray bottles and resist technique. We end up with 2 beautiful turkey art projects. Materials Watercolor Pad Liquid Watercolors Spray Bottles Construction Paper Googly Eyes

materials

Turkey Art Project for Thanksgiving : Using spray bottles and liquid watercolors Set up: Fill your mini spray bottles with diluted liquid watercolors.Either small spray bottles or even 2oz mist bottles are perfect for this project. Mix 2 TBSP of liquid watercolors + 4 TBSP of water in each bottle { one bottle per color}. Adjust the quantity according to your needs. I just added 1 TBSP of watercolors and just enough to get a good color. Scroll down and the 3rd picture has the entire amount I made for the project. We still have left over that we are going to use for another art project. You don’t need a lot and you WILL not be sorry that you purchased the amazing liquid watercolors linked above. The colors are simply stunning. Place a high quality Watercolor Pad on your art space. Really, you need a super thick high quality watercolor paper. Go for a larger/Jumbo/XL variety since your turkey is wider. Use a simple turkey feather pattern or template. I used this easy pattern to print and cut out my turkey feathers. The paper you use to print and cut out the turkey feathers also matters - you don’t want to use regular printer paper since it will immediately buckle up as soon as the liquid hits it. I used a little thicker art paper so that turkey feathers stay in place. If you don’t mind losing a sheet from your watercolor pad, take a sheet from that pad and use it to cut out your turkey feathers. Alternatively you can also cut out the turkey feathers from a sheet of contact paper and stick it on the watercolor paper/pad to ensure that the feathers do not move during the art project. That way you get cleaners feathers when you are done. Now time to SPRAY! Hold on to the feathers one by one and spray all around the feathers choosing one color at a time.

remove-paper-resist-on-turkey-art

Don’t make the same mistake my child did {lol} and NOT remove the feathers until the entire turkey art is done.

turkey-feathers-resist-art

Your turkey art project will look like this once all the feathers are sprayed over.

spraying-turkey-art-projects

Give it a second.

spray-paint-turkeys

and admire the amazing colors of the turkey’s feathers.

turkey-crafts-for-kids-for-thanksgiving

Gently remove the turkey feather one by one

remove-turkey-crafts-for-kids

Hopefully the watercolors did not seep through. {If you use contact paper as feathers then you can be guaranteed that the water will not seep through as long as you stick it right}

remove-the-paper-from-turkey-feathers

There you have your turkey feathers resist art

remove-paper-resist-on-turkey-art

Now time to turn that into a turkey with some brown construction paper, markers and googly eyes. I used this turkey template for this turkey art project.

indi-3

Love that each of my child’s turkey has a different personality.

Turkey 1

Some of the feather’s got the spray paint on them. They still cute adorable though!

indi-2

Such a happy little turkey.

Thanksgiving Art : Spray Painted Turkey Art

We placed one on our mantle and wrote the year and month on it. This is only our second Turkey Keepsake.

turkey-craft-on-the-mantle

We placed the rest near the fire place and it instantly gave our fireplace a much needed festive look. Those cute pumpkins are from our popular pumpkin fizzy art.

turkey-art-together

Let the leaves you removed from the art dry for a bit and create another set of turkeys with them.

thanksgiving-crafts-for-kids-with-turkey-theme

That’s my 8 year old designer who loves lettering currently.

turkey-fun

Thanks for reading

Happy Thanksgiving!

All our Thanksgiving crafts and activities here

turkey-crafts-for-kids

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