It’s hard to believe what you can make with coffee filters, it’s one of my fave art materials. I also have an obsession with anything Merimekko so this Poppy Art project fills both my addictions!
This is a very fun and easy project with beautiful, eye-popping results. Kids and grownups will both love painting on coffee filters! We used liquid watercolors which provide a very rich, vibrant hue. I highly recommend getting some, but you can also use regular palette watercolors, too.
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Supplies needed for Poppy Art:
~ Coffee filters – 8″ (I ironed mine flat. Make sure you use low heat and cover the filters with a cloth, I don’t want you burning the house down!)
~ Liquid watercolors (we used red, orange, yellow, and black)
~ Paint brush, empty plastic egg carton, water, damp sponge
~ Printout of poppy photographs to observe while painting
~ Paper towel to put underneath the coffee filters to soak up the paint
~ Newspaper to cover the table or us a tray
~ Gray sulphite paper (we used 18″ x 24″)
~ Scissors
~ Glue stick
How to make Poppy Art with Coffee Filters:
~ This is really all about observation and technique. I made mine differently than my 12year-old daughter. I started with the petals and then painted the black center last. She did it the opposite. I encouraged her to use both red and orange for the petals just to make them look more real.
~ Let them dry, then cut them out. Leave a little white around the flowers to make them pop on the gray paper.
~ Arrange them on your paper, making sure to have some hanging off the edge to give the appearance of a repeat pattern. Use the glue stick to glue them down. When you’ve finished gluing them down, trim the edges.
Definitely frame-worthy, don’t you think? Next I want to try painting dahlias. I see endless floral possibilities!
xo Bar
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Did you like this coffee filter project? Here are more ideas:
These look great – so pretty and I can think of so many uses. Bookmarking it for a summer holiday craft.
thank you nomita. i, too, can see many uses for these poppies…perhaps string them for a pretty bunting… have fun with it! ♡
Super idea! These turned out so pretty! Another cool kids craft idea that you can do with a few things you can find in your kitchen: http://www.sophie-world.com/crafts/paper-plate-fishbowl
how cute is that fishbowl? thanks for sharing with us, sophie!
I made these with my Grade 1/2 class this week for Rememberance day, which is Nov 11th in Canada. We cut out our poppy and glued it onto a piece of dark green paper and they look stunning. Thanks, kara
oh how awesome!!! I’m so happy you were able to use the poppy project for Rememberance day! Are poppies a traditional Rememberance day flower? I love learning about traditions in other cultures. Thank you for sharing and leaving a comment! XO bar
Hi! Just got a set of liquid watercolors 🙂 I understand that they can be used at full strength or diluted to some degree. How do you usually use them? When you dilute, to what extent? I want to avoid being wasteful, but also don’t want to water them down if the real fun is in full strength usage.
Hi, it does depend on the brand. Colorations brand is more diluted in my opinion, so you can use straight from the bottle. But the Blick liquid watercolor is very concentrated so I add some water. You can tell by looking at the bottle, if it’s very dark and hard to even see what color it is, then dilute it with a little water. You can play around with how much water, maybe about 1/4 water to 3/4 ink. Hope this helps!