Thrifty Art Thursday!

So I know it’s not Thursday yet, but It’s entirely possible that I won’t have an internet connection for a couple of days (GASP!) So I thought I’d post this before I left. I’m really excited about this one, it’s super easy, cheap, and eco-friendly! By coating thinner papers in canola oil, I make them translucent so that the layer behind them shows through!

First pick your papers. Thinner ones work better. Notebook paper is perfect, newspaper, origami paper, and book pages can all work too.

Then add a small amount of canola oil to a plate or tray and smear it around your paper.

Make sure to get both sides.

Then once its shiny, let it sit and soak in for a minute, then dry it off. I used old prefold diapers. (Yes, the ones my kids used.) I adore prefolds for any kind of cleaning or mess removal. They are totally awesome, and if you don’t have any you should get some. Seriously, if you have an ecogeek girlfriend who is talking about the horrors of potty training, you should hit her up for her old diapers.

Here’s a final result, the pictures are bad since I had to take them at night. I love how the magazine face shows through the writing. Plus you can write on top of the paper once it’s oiled, and it passed the gluestick test with flying colors.

What is the gluestick test you ask? Well, basically if it doesn’t stick with a gluestick on paper, it’s just not as awesome a project as I would like it to be. Unless, of course, I’m not sticking things on paper…