Sylvia makes sidewalk chalk

Dadmin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:24:02 +0000

Mini

Welcome to our third episode of Sylvia’s Super Awesome Mini Maker Show! Hey! Bored on a hot summer day? In the mood to let out your inner "van Gogh" and make something cool? Then lets make some sidewalk chalk!

For this colorful build, we will need:

Plaster of Paris
An old bowl you don’t mind mixing plaster in
Powdered Tempera paint
Warm Water
Wax paper
Some short cardboard tubes, or something else to mold the chalk in
And some wide sticky tape for sealing the bottoms of the tubes

First, take your tubes and line them with some wax paper, then seal the bottoms of each tube with tape and put them in a safe container to catch any spill when pouring. Take note: once you mix the plaster, the clock is ticking to get it poured into your mold, as it won’t want to stay liquid for long! You have about 2-3 minutes before the plaster becomes twice as hard to pour, and anything after 5 minutes is almost a paste and will be very hand to get into a mold. Be sure and have your molds completely ready before mixing. Safety first: Plaster dust is bad for you! Pour it outside, or with a breathing mask and eye protection. Always read the safety warnings on the package before working with chemicals or other potentially hazardous materials.

Now mix in ¾ of a cup of warm water with 1½ cups of plaster of paris, along with whatever colors you might want. The more the better, but not too much! If your paint has any water content it will offset the mix. We originally tried with wet tempera paint, but it never dried and turned to mush! Oh well, Failure is always an option!

Now that you're mixed, carefully pour the plaster into your molds. The mix should be enough to fill about 1 to 2 cardboard tubes, to make the other colors just repeat the previous steps. Once you’ve all poured, leave them out in the summer sun, or wait overnight and in no time they’ll be dry and ready to start drawing with.

And that’s it! Try experimenting with different colors, different molds, or different paint types, like neon or glow in the dark. There’s a million different ways to have fun with this one, just be sure that you do. And remember, get out there and make something!

Music by The Wavers - Three Minutes to Escape [CC Sharealike v2.5]

Ep. Number

See this post on MakeZine.com

Favorite Comments

10secondrideSomeones been watching mythbusters cause failure is always an option
themaxxrayIs it just me or does Sylvia have the best theme music on Youtube.
brian940808OMG when i grow up i wanna be JUST like her!!!!!!!
WambliPetaMy 5 and 7 yr old girls Love these Mini Maker vids 8-) Thank you for share'n!!
ProfessorAlaskaThat little girl is sort of epic.
MacintoshUser1986"Safety First!" Haha, that was so cute! She's an awesome little scientist!
skippygirl959its really cool that makemagazine is getting kids out there for july! great job sylvia! :)
kickercaster18Awww...She's like a scientist, only miniture!
dreamfaeiry~Thanks for the 'how to' Sylvia, thats cool and I love sidewalk chalk! I'm gonna do that with my niece and nephew! I think I'm gonna try layering different colors in the tubes, and maybe see what happens if I add a little glitter to it also! Peace, love & :) !!!~
oddsourcelol... like how you did the last bit. Dads a techninja and mom is the Paint ninja.
wurxUnbelievably great! Keep making these videos...please!

Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show! - chalk

Two more episodes of the Mini maker show

Sylvia makes Crazy Putty