We’ll put the branches in later..

Looking for something fun to do with the kids? – Why not try this?  Bottle ‘blossom’ printing – quick, easy, fun and a great way to use those empty tonic water bottles…

This is a fantastically simple way for even small children to create lovely artworks, a great way to entertain the kids at a party, could be a great idea for children to take home as their party gift, or use this printing technique as a very fast way of creating a backdrop for a Hawaiian Luau, or Princess theme party.

Here’s how we did ours.

You will need:

• Plastic bottles of the five-point bottom design (one for each colour)
• Canvas, paper or card (we used children’s canvasses, which were priced at £5 for three – of course blank paper, or even newspaper would make an interesting (and cheap/free) alternative
• Ready mixed poster paint – ours was very reasonably priced at £1.25 per bottle
• Dishes to pour the paint in for printing (we used plastic takeaway containers – often found quietly accumulating in a cupboard – can now be put to good use!)

To create your own magnificent works of art simply pour some of the ready-mixed paint into your dishes and dip the bottom of (clean and dry) bottles into the paint, press firmly on your canvass or paper….and hey presto!

Top Tips

• ensure a good coating of paint, but shake off any excess – we found too much paint caused drips and trails
• Use a pencil (preferably one with a rubber on the end) to print the centre of the blossom.  Mook used contrasting coloured paint for hers
• paint branches on afterwards
• Leave them somewhere flat to dry to avoid excess paint running

I will definitely be experimenting further with this technique – do let me know how you get on if you give it a try.

Or, do you have any other simple printing ideas?

Tagged: Blossom, bottle blossom printing, cherry blossom, craft ideas for kids, hawaiian luau, Lulu, Mook, party activities for children, party backdrops, party gift bag ideas, party ideas, plastic bottles, princess party theme, printing, summer holiday fun with the kids, tonic water bottle