Kelly Nixon: Art Education: Bubble Printing at the Science Museum of Virginia

On New Year's Eve 2013, I got the chance to teach a bubble painting lesson for Art on Wheels at the Science Museum of Virginia. The museum was having a New Year's Event and dropping the "ball" at 12 noon, for children (they would most likely be asleep at 12 midnight). The ball drop was actually 2014 bouncy balls from a balcony, it was pretty cool. It was a really fun family event!

Bubble Printing

For the bubble printing lesson I mixed tempera paint, dish soap, and water to get

the paint the right consistency. Many parents wanted to know the recipe for it, but it is mainly trial and error. Start with about a silver dollar sized amount of paint, fill in water to about half of paint cup, add in a few squirts of soap and stir (it is pretty watery). To test if it is right, you have to blow bubbles with a straw and press paper to the bubbles to make a test print. If the mixture is not bubbling enough, it needs more soap. If the paint is too thick for bubbles, it needs more water. Lastly, if the print comes out too light, then more paint is needed. It is a messy project, so have some table covers handy!

To get started, each person gets their own straw to use, for sanitary reasons. They could take their straw from color to color. Color mixing from putting the straw in different paints was minimal. Children blew bubbles into the paint bowls using the straw, until the bubbles were over the edge of the cup. While the bubbles were still high, the participants would press their paper on top of the bubbles to make a print. The process was repeated for different colors and bubble sizes. To get different sized bubble prints, I had different sized paint bowls. Some also dripped paint on their paper and then blew it around the paper with the straws to make a design.

Two safety reminders for children were to:

1. Only blow OUT with the straws- A few really young kids forgot and sucked in, resulting in a mouthful of paint. Luckily, there was a water fountain nearby to rinse in. For really young

ones, I suggested that an adult or older child make the bubbles for them and they press the paper

for the print.

2. Take a breath- Blowing hard on the straws too long can make kids lightheaded, remind them to

take a breath every now and then. I didn't have this happen to anyone, but it is something to

remind them of just in case.

Here are some pics of the event and some of the students' work. Enjoy!