Plaster of Paris Art Project: Magnets
Plaster of Paris Art Project
You can find different wasy to use plaster of Paris. You kids will have so much fun creating different crafts.
For younger kids you may consider making hand prints out of a plaster of Paris mold.
For older kids, you may consider using this craft project. You'll be making magnets using plaster of Paris and candy molds.
Supplies Needed
In order to make these unique magnets, you'll need the following supplies.
- Plaster of Paris mix
- Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Magnets
- Candy molds
- Hot glue gun (rubber cement)
Instructions for the Art Project
- Mix the plaster of Paris in a bowl.
- Pour into the candy molds.
* Tip: Try to use smaller candy molds because the larger the candy mold, the heavier the magnet will be. The weight of the plaster may cause the magnet, itself, to slide off the magnetic surface, such as your refrigerator.
- Let plaster dry in the candy molds for about one and a half hours or until it's firm. (The hotter and drier the weather, the fast the plaster of Paris will dry.)
- Pop plaster out of the candy molds and paint them.
You can use just about any type of paint that you have around the house. Acrylic and fabric paints come in a variety of colors, so you may consider a trip to the arts and crafts store to buy a set of primary colors that you can mix.
- Once the paints have fully dried, you will need to glue the magnets to the back of the plaster.
The weight of the plaster will be determined by how big the individual magnet piece will need to be in order to prevent your homemade magnets from sliding off the magnetic surface. The bigger the mold, the bigger and stronger magnet you will need to use.
Other Options for your Plaster Magnets
You may consider gluing felt to the back of the plaster of Paris mold before you glue on the magnet.
Instead of candy molds, you may want to use small cookie cutters. I think that the candy molds work better, but you may want to experiment. If you opt to use the cookie cutters, you will want to make sure that the mold is stiff enough to hold shape and that you will be able to slip off the cookie cutter when the plaster is dry enough.
Instead of making a magnet, you may want to make a pin. In this case, you can push a broach pin into the plaster before it is completely dry. The broach pin will stay in place once the plaster is dry.
Be creative. There are a number of ideas that you could do with these small plaster of Paris molds.
