How to Make Sun Prints on Fabric

By Rachelle

I’m delighted to introduce you to TinkerLab’s newest contributor, Noreen Greimann, who shares a beautiful article on how to sun print on fabric. I adore this project because it encourages us to spend time in nature and outside, and also uses materials that you probably already have access to.

Growing up, I often lost myself in the natural world spending hours in the garden, the fields and by the river. These special places with all their nooks and crannies became my main source of inspiration for playing, tinkering, writing and drawing.

This hasn’t changed. And now I get to share these moments with my children and watch with amazement how they weave their experiences in nature into their play and creative activities.

Today, I’m excited to show you how to take bits and pieces of nature to create gorgeous sun print fabric that you are going to want to make over and over again.

Supplies

• 100% white cotton fabric
• acrylic craft paint or fabric paint (darker colors recommended)
• paint brushes
• water in a bowl or small bucket
• a flat surface outdoors to work on (e.g. driveway, old cutting board) – no wooden surface
• nature materials: petals, leaves, ferns, blades of grass, flat pebbles, etc.

Directions

Make Paint. Dilute the paint with water at a 1:1 paint to water ratio. You want the paint to be thin enough to flow easily, but to still have enough pigment for bright colors.
Wet the Fabric. Wet the fabric in a bowl of water and squeeze it out until it is no longer dripping. Lay it flat on a mat or other non-porous surface.
Paint the fabric with a big paintbrush. When working with young children it is best to only use one or two colors at a time. Otherwise, the results will be rather muddy looking because little hands often can’t resist mixing all the colors together.
Press the leaves and flowers. As soon as you are done painting, press the leaves and flowers top side down onto the painted fabric, making sure the edges of the leaves and flowers lie flat. The more contact with the fabric, the sharper the lines will be in the end.
Place in the sun. Leave the fabric out in the sun for 1 to 2 hours. If it is really hot, it helps to mist the fabric during the first 30 minutes to an hour.
Remove leaves. When the fabric is completely dry, peel off the leaves and flowers and watch the magical prints appear. Don’t the dandelion leaf prints look like fish?
Set the paint. To set the paint, place the fabric in the dryer on high for 1 hour. I also recommend hand washing the first time as some of the paint may still wash out.

How to use sun print fabrics

The possibilities are truly endless.

Start with a t-shirt or pillowcase and you will have a stunning project in 2 hours.
Fabric pieces can be sewn into simple draw-string bags, which are perfect for holding gems, fairies, acorns, pebbles, seashells and other treasures. The fabrics also make lovely doll pillows and blankets.
Or how about a large bag for carrying books to the library?

Ready to give this a try? I hope you will enjoy this project as much as we do.

Noreen Greimann is a Natural Childhood Advocate who helps parents create a magical childhood for their children through her unique method of combining storytelling with activities. She shares her work and inspires parents on her website Entangled Harmony.

Shoelace Manifestos

By Rachelle

We were invited by Famous Footwear to participate in their Step Forward campaign, which celebrates creativity, being our best selves, and stepping forward with confidence. I’m a big champion of encouraging self-confidence in kids, and this is a message I can easily stand behind. The TinkerLab philosophy is rooted in giving children voice, supporting their individuality, and encouraging self-expression, so of course I had to look to some kids, which happened to be my own, for direction on this project.

These are the questions that guided us:

How can we encourage children to be their best selves and step forward with confidence?

What do they care about?

What are their dreams?

All sorts of ideas were brewing in my mind, mostly along the lines of painting or stenciling our shoes with brave colors or bold messages, but again, I wanted my kids to take the lead on this one. After all, following a child’s curiosity is a tenet of my philosophy as both a parent and arts educator.

So I posed this question to my girls:

“How can we celebrate our personalities through our shoes?”

And that’s when my 8-year old suggested that we make Shoelace Manifestos.

Ohhhh, I love this idea so much, and it’s so her!

She loves to write affirmations and positive statements in her journals, so we decided to celebrate this.

But how? She suggested square letter beads as a way to create a mini shoelace billboard of our affirmations.

#shoelacemanifesto

man·i·fes·to

/ˌmanəˈfestō/

Noun:a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer. (Merriam-Webster)

This quote by French fashion and shoe designer, Roger Vivier, is a lovely sentiment for this project:

“To wear dreams on one’s feet is to begin to give a reality to one’s dreams.”

Like so many children, my kids love their sneakers, and so we all decided to bead up new shoes from Famous Footwear.

My 8-year old and I both chose classic Chuck Taylors. I haven’t owned a pair of these since college, but oh-how-I-loved-these. It’s so fun to get my feet in these again. Swoon!

My 6-year old fell madly in love with these Roxy Rizzo shoes, and practically wore them into the ground before I had a chance to shoot these photos, but it’s a sign of how much she enjoys them.

They are the cutest and get tons of compliments…especially when clean. 😉

We set up the shoes for inspiration, and filled a bowl with these beads.

I didn’t give the kids any guidance and was curious to see where they would take this. My 6-year old spelled out NEW YORK. I asked her about it later and she told me that she loves New York. Not all the noise, but the tall buildings.

After lacing these up, we took them for a ride on the swing. To give them some air and speed in true New York fashion.

My 8-year old adores reading and came up with this message: I ❤️ READING.

She really does. In fact, after pulling this together, she quietly snuck away and happily curled up with a book.

My initials are RAD, which I love, so I knew I wanted the word RAD on one shoe, and my kids suggested SOUL for the other. They’re into puns and thought it was both meaningful and funny to play with the words soul and sole.

Yes, it’s perfect!

Make a Shoelace Manifesto

If you need a little kick-start, start here:

Ask: What are you curious about?
Try to limit the beads on each shoe to six, although seven could work. “Reading” is seven letters, and barely fit on a size 3 kids’ shoe.
Use these beads. Heads up: Some packages don’t come with even quantities of letters, so it’s best if you can see the beads in person.
Try one of these affirmations, or use these as a point of inspiration:
1. Smart – Cookie
2. Kind – Kid
3. Dream – Big
4. I am – Strong
5. Cre -ative
6. Posi – tive
7. I am – Loved
8. I am – Kind
9. Good – Human
10. I ❤️ – Myself
11. I ❤️ – Soccer
12. I ❤️ – Dance (etc.)
Take a photo of your shoes and tag it with #shoelacemanifesto

Thank you to Famous Footwear for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest & completely my own.

Paper Plate Weaving | Make a Doll Hammock

By Rachelle

Have you ever tried circle weaving on a paper plate? Today, I’ll both share how to make a paper plate weaving, and also how to turn that weaving into a sweet little hammock for a small doll.

My girls, ages 4 and 6, adore these hammocks, and my older daughter quickly adopted the one you see here. Check out this video of the entire process — I’ll share more a more detailed tutorial below.

Supplies for Paper Plate Weaving

Paper Plate

Yarn

Scissors

Popsicle Stick or Choptick

Paper Plate Weaving Steps

Step 1: Cut notches in around the edges of the plate. This has to be an ODD number. 9 or 11 notches seems to work well.

Step 2: Wrap yarn around the paper plate. See demonstration in the video (above). Tie a knot so this doesn’t come loose.

Step 3: Wrap yarn around the popsicle stick.

Step 4: Tie one end of the yarn to the center of the criss-crossed plate yarn.

Step 5: Weave the popsicle stick yarn over and under the plate yarn. Continue until you are done. You can change colors along the way by tying yarns together.

Step 6: Cut the yarn from the plate

Step 7: Tie the ends of the yarn to each other so that the weaving doesn’t come undone. Add more yarn to create the long, hanging strings. (See an alternative way to tie this off in the video).

Step 8: Add a toy!

Another idea!

My 4-year old noticed that turning one of these creations upside down transformed it into a jelly fish. These ends weren’t tied off, so it’s bound to fall apart eventually, but we could have easily tied them off.

This project is part of Kids Crafts 101, a collection of crafts that are made from materials you most likely have lying around your home. Things like paper bags, cardboard rolls, string, paper plates, and cardboard. Click here to see all of the ideas in this series.

Yesterday’s clever idea from Anna at The Imagination Tree is to make colorful Egg Carton Flower Necklaces, and tomorrow, Jeanette of Tiny Rotten Peanuts will share how to make these delightful String Nests.

Join the TinkerLab Community

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Join our community and you’ll learn:

How to simplify your life and make more room for creativity
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Easy, actionable ways to raise creative kids

How to Make a Paper Clip Tape Necklace

By Rachelle

This project to make a paper clip tape necklace or bracelet was inspired by a conversation I had with my agent, Erica, when we were chatting about making things with office supplies. It’s been a few years since I worked in an office, but oh, how I loved restocking my desk with post-its, paper clips, and fresh pencils. Are you with me?

There’s actually a book on this topic, Extreme Office Crafts (affiliate), which I haven’t had a chance to check out. Wouldn’t that have been a fun book to write?! It sounds like there are even a few projects in that book that we’ve tried, like this sticky note mosaic.

Why Paper Clip Jewelry is Awesome

What I love about this craft is that it’s low cost, you can make it with supplies you probably already have on hand, and it’s open-ended (variations provided at the end of this post).

Who is this for?

While I didn’t grab photos of it, my kids, ages 4 and 6 have done this multiple times. It’s great for fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It would be a successful summer camp craft and it’s perfect for a lazy afternoon…for kids or adults.

Supplies for Paper Clip and Tape Necklace

Paper Clips
Washi Tape
Scissors

So easy, right?

I like to use washi tape because it’s so stinkin’ beautiful and easy to find in a variety of compelling colors and patterns. I collect our tape from local craft stores and online at places like Amazon (affiliate).

Creative Invitation

As you can see from the photos, I set this up as an Invitation to Create. For more about invitations to create, you will love these three posts that are part of the Creative Table Project, a fun TinkerLab project that’s been going strong since 2012!

An Invitation to Create with Tape and Paper

An Invitation to Create with Glue and Sand

An Invitation to Create with Stickers and Paper Frame

How to Make Paper Clip and Tape Necklace

There are a couple ways to do this:

Connect a long string of paper clips together and then wrap each paper clip with tape.
Or, wrap a paper clip with tape and then connect it with another paper clip. Repeat the process of wrapping and connecting until you reach the desired length.

Watch my newest video to see how it’s done…