Ice Cream Collage

Ice Cream Collage

We just got back from the Good Life Society Festival at Hawarden Estate in north Wales where me and my mum did this brilliant collage workshop. It is something really fun for all ages and the perfect craft activity for summer. You start from the cone up, just like you would when choosing and ice cream in an ice cream parlour.

What you'll need:

  • Water
  • Flour
  • A bowl to mix the paste
  • Bowls or tubs to mix the paint colours
  • Acrylic paint colour for cone (yellows)
  • A mix of paint in ice cream colours. We limited it to yellows, pinks and browns.
  • Oil pastels, pastels, crayons and anything to make drawn marks
  • Lots of plain paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue (you can use your paste if you keep some to one side with no paint added)
  • Items that you can use for frottage (colanders, shoe soles, and scouting things around you like walls or floors that you can make a nice rubbing from)
Cones

1. Start by making the paste for the paste paper.

Combine 1 heaped tablespoon of flour with 250ml of cold water in a small pan. Stir until smooth then simmer for 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally until thickened. This makes a roux (like in cooking) breaking down the gluten. Let the mixture stand to allow any lumps to dissolve, or sieve any large lumps. Leave a small amout to one side to use as non-coloured glue.

2. Add a dash of your yellow acrylic paints until you get the desired colour your want for your cone.

3. Paint your paste onto a piece of paper using a large brush (like a household paint brush or sponge) You want it thick enough to be able to score a pattern into it using the wrong end of a small paintbrush, or a kebab stick, but not so thick it takes ages to dry. Have a look at patterns on real ice cream cones. I like a simple waffle criss cross. This drawing technique dries completely flat but gives it a really 3D look. Allow to dry.

 

Ice Creams

1. Think about your dream ice cream flavours. Create more paste paper patterns in different colours. I believe limitation makes for a greater artwork, so you could keep it pure by just doing different pinks for example.

2. Use different methods to make marks. try dipping found plants into your paint to make splats. Use oil patels to make rubbings from interesting surfaces (this is called frottage). Try to mimic the swirls and chunks you get in a real ice cream, it'll make for a better picture.

3. Allow all paper to dry before cutting. 

4. Find a nice piece of clean paper to use as the background of your artwork. Cut out the shape of your cone from your cone paste paper and glue down using your clear paste.

5. Cut out the ice cream scoops using your favourite pieces that you have made from your earlier mark making work. Think about what makes a good composition and what a real ice cream looks like - they are not always perfectly round scoops! I love collage because you can play with composition before you commit to sticking down.

6. If you want you could find some interesting pieces of paper to make sprinkles, flakes, chocolate chips and sauce as decoration on top.

 

Top Tips:

Look at collage artists for inspiration, I love Eric Carle, Clover Robin and Mark Hearld's playful work.

It's tempting to go BIG but think about how a real ice cream looks. I like one, two or three scoops max!

Go and look at a real ice cream parlour and see what the ice cream looks like in the counter and look at the different style of cones and tubs. Why not try to make your own paper ice cream shop and serve up paper ice creams to your friends and family!

Play with composition before you commit to sticking the shapes down. Think about where it sits on the paper and how much space it takes up.

Try scanning in your finished piece and changing the scale of it. Make it tiny and send as a card! 

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