My girls love nail polish.  We have an ever growing collection of colors.  To help “use up” some of the older bottles, we decided to experiment with them.
Nail Polish Marbling
First we tried marbling paper.  You will need a pan of room temperature water, nail polish, and an orange stick. Make sure you are in a well ventilated area, we tried it outside, but the polish dried to quickly.
To make your Nail Polish Art, you will need:
- Old bottles of nail polish
- Shallow Pan
- Water ~ Room Temp.
- Stick (or something similar) to stir the polish
- Paper
Simply pour a small amount of polish straight from the bottle into the water. Â It should form a “skin” on the top of the water. Â Working quickly drip more colors into the center of the skin. Â We found that some polishes spread better than others, but both produced interesting results.
Once you have a few colors, gently drag an orange stick (or skewer) through the polish.  We found that it worked best to start near the outside of the skin and drag to the center, wiping the stick as you go.  Next simply dip your paper into the water and pull it out to reveal a beautifully marbled piece of paper.  After each paper is finished, use your orange stick to swirl around the water to gather all the left over polish.  The younger kiddos had a harder time with this one, but still enjoyed it.
Blot Art
Next the kids tried pouring polish straight into the pan with no water. Â They swirled the colors with the orange stick and then set the paper into the polish. Â The kids loved the process of dumping the colors and swirling it around. Â There was lots of giggles as they tried to determine what each shape was.
This one was named the speeding bunny. Â Love it!
Painting Hosta Leaves
I was about to clean up the project when one of the girls asked if they could paint on a Hosta leaf instead of paper. Â This brought renewed excitement.
The girls painted directly onto their leaf with the nail polish.  They soon decided that the leaves were fans.  Every pretty princess needs a sparking, colorful fan to keep them cool in the summer:)  It was fun watching the kids use everyday items in a new way.
Apparently from what I’ve been seeing on Pinterest, you can paint your nails this way too!
You sure can. and if you use the right combination it really turns out cool.
I’m in awe again! This blog better still be here when I have kids; or at least the archives!
I have a bunch of older makeup, can you do anything with that? I have lipsticks, eye shadow and blush along with a few other things. If you can come up with an art project (or let the kids play dress up with old, used makeup) you’re welcome to it all!
I used to sell a large Make-up brand and have soooo much nail polish! Now I know what to do with it. Thank you for sharing on It’s Playtime
Rachele @ Messy Kids
The Speeding Bunny caption made me giggle! 🙂
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Rachele @ Messy Kids
This was a fun post to read. I am big into paper marbaling and love your idea and the progression kids can take our ideas. 🙂 We went and saw a professional do some paper marbaliing (Ebru) and it was fascinating and beautiful. I blogged about it here if you are interested. http://bloggingthemoments.blogspot.com/2011/03/simply-beautiful-ebru.html
again great post. thanks for sharing.
Beautiful!!!! Thanks so much for sharing:)
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I saw this on Pinterest, and it turned into a fun rainy day activity for my kids and I. We had to do it in the kitchen, so the fans are still on to deal with the smell, but it’s worth it for the look on their faces when we lifted the first print out of the bath.
One warning–I was a little careless pouring out the residue and had to take quite a bit of polish remover to my sink!
Thank you for sharing such a simple and lovely idea!