The crystalline beauty of sand is such a waste just sitting on a beach. Why not feature it in a sand painting?

You'll need:

-Sturdy paper (we used watercolor paper)
-Felt tip pen
-White glue
-Paintbrush
-Sand in different natural colors

Begin by drawing out your design on the paper using the pen. We featured a fierce looking Tiki (Fig. 1). You can use a slide or overhead projector or carbon paper to transfer an image or you can freehand one. The important thing to remember is that the visual elements that combine to make the image be well defined fields - no lines that wander off and end without closing into a shape with a white space in the center. Then decide which color of sand will be used in which field (Fig. 2). It's best not to label the fields, however, the sand is not completely opaque when glued down and your markings will show. Next pick a field and paint the white space with the glue (Fig. 3), then sprinkle sand over the glue until the area is completely covered (Fig. 4). Start with your darker sand colors first. Tip the paper up and allow the excess sand to fall off onto a waiting receptacle (Fig. 5) and move on to the next field. Continue until all the fields composing the image have been filled in with sand (Fig. 6). When you're all sanded up, you can embellish the finished product with artificial foliage or other objects, and then frame it with a purchased frame which can be trimmed with bamboo for an extra "Tiki" touch.

Episode 206 Main Page