DIY Giant Paintbrushes for the Art Room | Pinterest Challenge

This post may contain affiliate links for you to easily find products mentioned. If you click a link and make a purchase, I get a small commission which helps keep the Fox Den up and running. My complete disclosure policy, is here.

Hi friends,

Welcome to the June Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop! The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate all the participants of this hop (and you too) to not just pin, but to make it happen! This month, I chose to make something for my art room! I stumbled across this pin from famous art teacher Cassie Stephens and I immediately fell in love!

I’m always on the hunt for new and exciting ways to make learning fun for my kiddos in the art room, and this will be no exception! One of the first things I review with my kids at the beginning of every year are the difference between primary and secondary colors and this is going to make it so much fun!

Supply List

• Wooden Paddles
• Acrylic Paints; color wheel colors, tan, dark brown, and gray
• Paint Brushes
• Painter’s Tape
• Parchment Paper

Instructions

1. Like Cassie did, I headed to my local craft store’s wood aisle and picked up some wooden paddles. I’m a teacher, and I’m on a budget, so I have to be tactical when I go. I drag Mama Fox along with me and we both use coupons and teacher discounts to get the best deal possible. Since I’m making one for each color in the color wheel, we went 3 separate times to finally get the 6 I needed.

2. These things are HUGE! Like, I knew they’d be big since Cassie held them up in her Pinterest picture and they were almost the size of her, but actually seeing them made it a little hard to imagine how they’d be transformed into paintbrushes. But I pressed onward!

3. The first thing I did was use painter’s tape to mark out how far the handle would go. I actually measured down from where the brush bristles would be and I decided on 10″. I used a very light tan and applied 2 coats of paint.

4. Next, I painted the colored bristles. Because I knew I’d be making a curvy / wavy line with the dark brown paint I didn’t measure this, I just eyeballed where it would reach.

5. Once the tan handle was dry, I changed where the painter’s tape was located and painted the gray ferrule. The painter’s tape was moved to the other side of the tan paint and 7″ from the top.

6. Because I’m a tad OCD, I want my curvy / wavy lines to all be the same. Cassie free-handed hers, but I wasn’t feeling that route. I put a sheet of parchment paper down and layered some painter’s tape over top each other. I then drew a curvy / wavy line that I liked and thought represented paint “dripping”. I cut out the “drip” from the painter’s tape and removed the parchment paper, like a sticker.

7. I took my painter’s tape “sticker” and placed it over the colored bristles, curvy / wavy line facing down towards the handle. I moved the 7″ painter’s tape to the other side of the gray and painted dark brown inside the area.

8. Once every section was dry it was time to add the highlights and shadows. Cassie was inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s “Brushstroke” and I loved that! Lichtenstein is one of my favorite artists to teach my kids about so this is going to be an amazing interactive teaching tool!

I’m so excited to hang these up in my art room for next year! I love having interactive things in my art room to enhance my kiddo’s learning process and I have an idea for how I’m going to display them, but you’ll have to tune in later this summer to find out!

To join next month’s #pinterestchallenge, click below to sign-up!

July Pinterest Challenge

---

Now let’s see what other things Pinterest inspired! Head over and visit the other hosts to see what they crafted, cooked, built, or tried!

Erlene – My Pinterventures • Lauren – Mom Home Guide
Debbee – Debbee’s Buzz • Laurie – My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies
Bri – Halfpint Design • Julie – Sum of their Stories
Lisa – Blogghetti • T’onna – Sew Crafty Crochet
Pili – My Sweet Things • Debra – Shoppe No. 5
Roseann – This Autoimmune Life • Terri – Our Good Life
Chelc – Inside The Fox Den • Leslie – Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Kelley – Simply Inspired Meals • Joanne – Our Unschooling Journey
Jenny –Cookies Coffee and Crafts • Gail – Purple Hues and Me
Beverly – Across the Boulevard• Habiba – Craftify My Love
Kristie – Teadoddles • Shirley – Intelligent Domestications
Kelli – The Olympic Nest • Lydia – Lydia’s Flexitarian Kitchen
Michelle – Our Crafty Mom • Emily – Domestic Deadline

---

Loved it? Pin it!