Monday, January 16, 2012

Painting Doilies

I found six paper doilies stored with a crystal serving tray in my basement closet. I have finally decided to let the tray go, even though it was a wedding gift. It has held its place on the shelf collecting dust for too many years now to prove it is ever going to be used again.  Even crystal needs to be functional to be kept. At least in our humble abode.

It has now taken its place in our garage sale pile.  The crystal platter that is, not the entire humble abode.

The doilies had another fate. I looked at them and was taken back practically 30 years when I sat with my friend Sarah at her kitchen table sitting on their retro style wrap around corner bench.  As I remember the bench orange and yellow with black and white flowers, I think. Way cool. Groovy, even.  Sarah's mom gave us some paper doilies, water color paints and lots of time. We sat and painted each little curve and cut out pattern with careful detail.

Well, fast forward 30 years and we had doilies, bits of cracked water color paint and lots of time so I took the idea to the kids and set them up for a new art project.

It was a hit.

Here's some of the artwork we've been enjoying for the past week.





It doesn't take much paint to color a doily.  If you're tempted to throw out that crusty water color tray think again. It might buy a few minutes or several hours of art activity.

Gather the kids (the girls might like this one better than the boys), and watch them practice careful dexterity and just enjoy paining on a different medium.

Doilies come in all shapes and sizes. I imagine you can find them at the dollar store, a craft store like Michael's or a party supply store. I know Joann Fabrics sells them too.


See what you can create - maybe find some heart shaped ones for Valentine's Day, less than one month away!


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Myra Gillis had 37 doilies when she got married, and I'm determined to have AT LEAST as many as she had.

We choose to live this life. said...

Of course you couldn't be happy with only 36 doilies...ha ha ha