water color pages curl....???

[Mom2Monkeys]

we did our first watercolor.painting in.CTC today. I expected a big ordeal ajd typically avoid this sort of activity. I was soooooo pleased at the ease of actually doing.it!
so, are we.doing something wrong since our pages curl? I'm using the same paper Julie (my3sons) suggested and the finished project turned out great it just has a big curling up from top and bottom.

[lmercon]

No, you aren't doing anything wrong. Mine did that too, and made it VERY frustrating because the paint would run. You'll need to tape the paper down to your surface. I put a larger piece of paper under the watercolor paper and roll masking tape between the two papers. You can also use painter's tape (blue kind) and tape the watercolor paper down from the top, which when removed makes a nice white border on your painting.
hth,
Laura

[troodlesn]

We must be on the same schedule! We did our first CTC watercolor today too. We used masking tape to attach it to a piece of foam core (which I had left over from a garage sale sign). I actually looked online for video examples of painting watercolor and saw that they had done the same thing. (I'm clueless otherwise. ) This was the highlight of our day - and I usually avoid these kinds of activities too.

[Mom2Monkeys]

great ideas!

Trudy, on the same schedule now but for my sake, lets nit compare the schedule a Monty from now when you're 4 units in ajd we are.finishing unit 2. haha. we always get behind!

we also both did our painting outside! beautiful day today so we couldn't resist going on the balcony. I really need.to set ours up on an easel like that and love the idea of painters tape with leaving the nice white border.

[Mom2Monkeys]

Also, how are you storing the finished paintings? I got smaller pages thinking I'd put them in a binder but really they're still too big. I'd love to frame each one. I'm thinking of letting her do the copywork in a notebook and type the same in fancy font for her and letting her glue that on and frame several of them. She is too much of a perfectionist to frame the handwritten ones (she writes very sloppy

[LynnH]

I bought art portfolios from Michaels to put my kids paintings in. I used a coupon and that made them fairly inexpensive. I think they were like $10. They had a plastic cover and then page protector like pages that you can slide the paintings in.

[raceNzanesmom]

My artist (the oldest) says yes, tape down and keep in a portfolio.

My yongest says he can't wait for CTC because that picture looks "awesome".

[Tree House Academy]

When we did CTC, we would do the paintings, let them dry, and then lay a book on the top of them for a day or so. It flattened them out and then I would put them in a plastic sheet portfolio. We have a very special collection now.

[lmercon]

My ds stores his paintings in an inexpensive 12X12 postbound scrapbook. It works great. It's nice with the sheet protectors.

[troodlesn]

Tamara - no worries there - I was only hoping to get through one or two days worth this week...I will say - I am truly in awe of you homeschooling moms doing this with multiple kids. I'm already quite tired out with one and we're only a few days into it!

I love all the ideas for storing the pictures - I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. I'll be sure to hold onto my next Michael's coupon for a good portfolio or album to keep them in.

[annaz]

I love that pic Trudy! That's a great idea!

We taped ours in the corners. I also found a little thicker paper curled less, but not as much as I liked. I like Trudy's idea the best!