Posted by The VerMints Gang on 2nd May 2016
Homemadefruit and vegetable paint is recycling at its finest.
Whenyou just can’t finish that bag of wilting spinach (hey, it happens to the bestof us), DIY paint is a great way to make the most out of a droopy, potentiallysmelly, situation. Plus it’ll buy you time between trips to the compost bin and save you a bundle on toddler craftsupplies.
So rather than trying to pass smoothies off as dinner for days on end,whip up adelicious family meal,pop an organic mint, and turn those old food scraps into chemical-free veganpaint for the kids.
Theother nice thing about vegetable paint is it’s incredibly easy to make and it’sversatile, too. The instructions below are for making a veggie-based dye, whichyou can use for things like clothing or Easter eggs. With just one or two additional ingredients you can also make craft paint or face paint. Start with someboiling water and an assortment of veggies for color variety, and you’ll havethe kids making all kinds of DIY crafts in no time.
VEGETABLE PAINTINGREDIENTS
Spinach, kale, swiss chard = green
Strawberry, beets, grenade, blueberry, raspberry = red
Blueberry, blackberry, red cabbage = blue / purple
Carrot, orange peels, yellow onion skins = orange
MAKING THE DYE
Ina small saucepan, mix 2 cups of water with 1 cup of each fruit or veg.Bring to a boil over medium heat and leave to simmer for about one hour.
Turnoff the heat and allow the water to cool to room temperature.
Strainthe juice into glass containers.
MAKE VEGETABLE PAINT
Mixone teaspoon of dye with approximately six tablespoons of powdered sugar.
MAKE FACE PAINT
Combineequal parts corn starch and your favorite vegan face lotion. Add about ¼ teaspoonvegetable oil to help smooth out the mixture.
Adda spoonful of vegetable dye to the lotion mixture. Repeat with all your dyecolors in separate containers until you’ve got a complete set of face paints.
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Image courtesy of Popsugar.com
