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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Easter Mosaic Cross






Well as promised here is a great project with all those eggshells. I did this with Grade 3 yesterday, because it is a Catholic school and we focus on the religious symbolism of Easter.

This technique can be easily adapted to any shape.

Materials Required:

- eggshells, cleaned and dried (you need about 6 halves)
- thin cardboard
- scissors
- acrylic paint in Easter colors as well as your grout color
- mod podge
- wax paper
- paintbrush




Collect some eggshells. Rinse them with water and if possible try to remove inner membrane. To do this just break off a little shell from the edge and peel the inner white membrane at the same time. It comes off easily when the eggs have just been cracked.

Let dry.





Paint your eggshells. Use acrylic craft paint. I did some in solid colors and some with patterns. I asked the kids to only do 2 with patterns, I find that if you use to many patterned eggs it takes away from the mosaic.

Let them dry.








For this project I pre cut cardboard crosses for all the kids. They are about 8 inches high.

I used cardboard from the back of paper pads that I had stored away but you can use cereal boxes, or any lightweight cardboard.



Paint your cross with your grout color. We chose white. I had initially thought black but I think the white worked better.




If this is for hanging make sure you punch your hole at this time as well.





Taking the mod podge start on an edge and paint some on. You want to do small areas at a time as the mod podge will dry before you get to the end.




Place a 1 inch or so section of shell on the mod podge...it won't lay flat but that is OK because you then press in down with your finger smooshing it into the mod podge and creating your mosaic.




In these photos I am adding a top coat as I go however for the kids it was easier to finish the cross completely and then add the top coat.

I also had containers of water nearby for them to wash their sticky fingers...you'll find that your sticky fingers will begin to pull off the paint otherwise.






Continue until you cover the entire shape. Don't worry about going over the edge you'll trim it after its dry.



When it has dried take some small scissors and clip the edges. This gives the piece a good finished look. You can also sand any rough edges with an emery board.


Add a coat or 2 of mod podge to the back and you are done.

You may find your shape warps as it is drying...the podge has a lot of moisture to it...just gently bend it back into place before the podge has dried completely.





You can then string it with some nice ribbon and even add a flower trim.


Here are the ones done by the kids. Sorry about the picture quality but I was having issues with the light. They did a great job.
I had to watch as some wanted to mound up several layers of eggshell on top of one another. I also found some kids wanted to break up there shells into little pieces and painstakingly position each piece. (hey! you can't rush great art) CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE LARGER

Several teachers at school thought they looked like stained glass.
Due to the lacquer effects of the mod podge these crosses will be quite durable and will make nice keepsakes for the parents.

That's it for today hope to see you soon.
gail

10 comments:

  1. Yet another colorful and amazing craft from your creative spirit.

    These are just so cute.

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  2. Thanks Pam.
    I have to keep on my toes for all those kids...and of course we can't make the same thing year after year. This turned out so well though I think it will become a tradition.

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  3. What a GREAT idea for those colored eggs after Easter!! And being that the Easter Season lasts 50 days, we can do this anytime in the next week or so! Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing!!! ~ Kathy

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  4. I really like this idea! I'm looking to find all the materials - and I'm learning about art at the same time. What's grout and mod podge? And can they be purchased at art stores? Thank you!

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  5. Hi Gail! Thank you for your wonderful ideas! Just a quick question. For an entire class how many eggs would I need to have. The class has 22 kids. Thanks

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  6. Hey Ashley,
    I had the kids collect egg shells for a few days. You need about 2 eggs (4 broken halves) per kid. We had plently!

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  7. Can you use tempera paint? And do you think this would be too hard for kindergarten? I'm trying to come up with an art project to do for Easter with my kindergarten class.

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  8. Hey Danielle,
    The problem with tempera is it may run when the Mod podge hits it. You could try torn construction paper....might work well with Kinders and it would still be quite striking or even tissue paper squares, you can add some patterned scrapbook paper as well. They would still work on wax paper and then you trim them when they dry. The Bead and clay crosses work well with kinders (see Spring Projects below header). I'm posting a paper egg that has Easter lilies made using their handprints on Monday. We do it in Grade 1 every year. It's very successful.

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  9. ciao mi piace la tecnica dei gusci d'uovo..ma si devono usare gusci d'uovo sodo? cioè devono essere di uova cotte?
    ciao ciao

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  10. Hey Flavia, the egg shells are leftover from eggs I've used for baking and cooking, just give them a wash in a water rinse. The shells themselves do not need to be cooked. Hope that helps.

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