Scratch Art

We had friends over today and we made our own homemade “Scratch Art” paper. It is very simple and we can show you how. First color really hard all over your paper. You can use copy paper or cardstock. It should be waxy looking with NO white showing.

If your friends are young you might want to draw a square on the center of the paper, not to big, and then cut it out when they are finished. This allows the edges to be colored and not destroyed.

After your paper is colored take black tempera paint(I used a washable kids paint by Plaid that I found at Wal-Mart) and mix in a drop of dish detergent. I would say maybe two tablespoons of paint with a good sized drop (like 1/4 to a scant 1/2 tsp) of regular dish detergent. Paint your entire page with the paint. Allow to dry.

When the paper is completely dry (takes about an hour), start scratching away. We used toothpicks.

Here are some of our masterpieces.