Easy Batiking!

Don't you love batik? There's an easy way of creating fun, colorful batiks with your kids that doesn't involve hot wax. I found the method on That Artist Woman and tried it out for myself. Here's how we created this fun Batik Pillow.

You'll need:

• 2 pieces of same-sized fabric
• gel glue (I'll explain later)
• acrylic paint
• paint brushes, water

1. Trace or draw your design lightly on the fabric with pencil.
I googled "elephant coloring page" and found a design I liked for my panel. For E's panel, I simply traced over one of her recent paintings. If you wanted, you could simply have your child skip this step and draw straight with glue.

2. Trace over the pencil with the glue.
Gale @ That Artist Woman used Elmers galatic glue. I couldn't find it or her other recommendation: Elmers washable school gel glue at Walmart. (I wasn't about to make a special trip.) What I did find was Clear Gel Tacky Glue. I think what's important is that the glue is not for fabric and is in gel form. I tried using good ol' school glue, but it spreads once it's on the fabric, so stick with gel glues.

3. Allow to dry overnight. 

4. Mix acrylic paint with water to make a very runny paint.

5. Paint!
The glue will not repel the paint, but don't worry, it'll wash out later.

6. Allow to dry. Again. 
This should only take a few hours.

7. Soak in the bathtub in very warm (almost hot) water for around 20 minutes.

8. Remove the glue.
At this point the glue will have softened up. Rub the fabric to loosen the paint over the glue. It will come off in flakes into the water. Then you can take a nail brush and scrub off the remaining glue.

9. Wring out and dry (in the dryer, if you'd like).

10. Sew into a pillow!

E keeps trying to convince me that we need to send the pillow to our Compassion child Aom in Thailand. I love the sentiment, but I think I'll pass on the international shipping!


An Elephant in the Backyard by Richard Sobol

I don't choose non-fiction very often, but this one is definitely worth a look. It tells the story of the elephants of Tha Klang, Thailand. The people in this village have been raising and training elephants for hundreds of years. The book introduces one special baby elephant, Wan Pen, and explains how the elephant lives with her human family and is trained.

Although written for older children, E sat through the entire reading and really enjoyed the pictures of Wan Pen with the Thai children. Even A seemed to like the full-color photography of elephants and daily life in the village.

Afterward, I got to share a few pictures of my own elephant trekking experience in Thailand! Who knows? Maybe these were elephants from Tha Klang!

I'm linking up with:
- Show Off Your Stuff @ Fireflies & Jellybeans
- stART @ A Mommy's Adventures