Reverse glass painting is an art form popular in West Africa. I was introduced to it when we lived in Senegal many years ago. Mor Gueye, who did the painting above, used to sell his work at the Dakar outdoor artisan market and my Mom bought quite a few of his paintings. Inspired by the process, I did a reverse glass painting project with my daughters classroom last year which turned out really well. They were studying "sequencing", so her teacher and I thought it would be interesting to have the students depict what they did each day from getting up to going to bed. The students took the final paintings and hung them in the hallway in proper sequenced order.
We used sharpie markers and acrylic paints on Plexiglas panels from Home Depot. We then "framed" the finished paintings with brown craft paper backing and black duct tape edging.
Fast forward a few months, and the painting-on-glass process got my Urban Craft Lab business partner and I thinking about using the same technique for a silhouette class. The best thing about this technique is that because glass is clear, you can trace an image from a photograph or book, making your artistic ability seem through the roof! We held the class a couple of weeks ago and people made incredible work. There were a few people who couldn't make the class and wanted to see how it's done. Coincidentally, I have been wanting to start making craft tutorials, so here you go:
MODERN SILHOUETTE TUTORIAL
Supplies
Picture frame with glass or Plexiglas
Sharpie marker
Black acrylic Paint
Decorative papers
1) Remove the Plexiglas or glass from the frame and place it on top of the image.
2) Using a sharpie marker, trace around the outside edge of the image you want to make into a silhouette. Remember that the final image will be a reverse of the original.
3) Paint inside the lines using black acrylic paint. Wait for the paint to dry. You may need to paint the image twice to get full coverage.
4) Use decorative paper (or papers) to make the background. Assemble the frame and finished work and...Voila!
Have fun! This is a great project to do with kids.
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