Shaving Cream Prints

This is a fun project that takes just minimal supplies.

The supplies include:
  Shaving cream
  Liquid paints
  Paper
  Plastic spoon
  Mixing stick
  Scraper
  Styrofoam or paper plate
 

Simply spread a coat of shaving cream onto a plate and smooth it out with a spoon so it's about 1/4 inch thick.  Next, dot on some paint, as seen on the plate to the left.  I used acrylic paint on this but liquid watercolors work just as well.  Next, mix the colors together using a mixing stick (a pencil works well) as seen on the plate to the right.

Take your piece of paper that is slightly larger than the paint area and press it down onto the paint.  Pat it lightly to make sure that the paint transfers to the paper.  Now lift the paper off of the paint and behold something that looks like a mess.  Fear not.

Take your scraper, which could be a square of cardboard, and scrape the shaving cream off of the paper.  Voila!  This will reveal your beautiful design.  At this point you can smooth out the shaving cream left on the plate and add additional colors to make another design or start again with fresh shaving cream and new colors.

In the above picture you can see the paint dotted onto the plate and paint mixed with wild abandon.  Actually, I mixed it with a plastic skewer that once held a fruit kabob.  The paper I used for the print that's shown is cardstock.  I find that I get the best results with watercolor paper or white construction paper.  Dark colored paper doesn't seem to show off the design as well.

You can also write on the paper with a dark crayon, messages like "Happy Birthday", before pressing the paper onto the swirls of paint.  This way you could design our own birthday cards.

Besides birthday cards, designs can be cut into bookmark sized pieces and used as bookmarks.  When doing this activity with senior residents we took some of their creations and framed them in 4x6 frames so they could have them as art pieces.

Experiment and enjoy!