Trixi’s Golden Oldies: Chalk Away the Hours

I don’t know about your kids, but my kids always loved drawing with chalk. When they were little I used to give them a box of chalk to draw with on the pavement outside our house. They could spend hours drawing. It looked amazing and lasted till the next rain. And then they could start again. Even the neighbors children used to come over and join in, and their parents didn’t mind as long as their drawings were only in front of our house. This may not always have been the case, but the neighborhood survived.

Last Monday I visited Karen’s blog:And so, I sew. I was quite intrigued about something she mentioned called “chalkboard material”. I ‘d never heard of it and Karen was kind enough to let me know what it was and where I could buy it. So perhaps there’s a new project in the pipeline. The chalkboard material reminded me of a small-carry-with-you chalkboard that I used to make with my after school classes.

The chalkboard is a 30cm x 30cm square of craft wood. The easiest way to get clean sharp lines is to use masking tape. I chose the widest I could find, which was about 500mm. I put a strip of tape along each side to mark out the central square that I painted with black chalkboard paint. Don’t leave the masking tape on longer than 24 hours (it can get stuck on so well that it rips up little bits of the wood when you pull it off). When I paint the borders I use masking tape again to mark out the shape I want. I only paint one colour at a time and wait for it to dry before starting the next colour. If I want to hurry up the process I use a hair dryer. The duster is just a small piece of wood covered with felt. It’s a very simple project that always comes off if you make everything really bright and colourful. Think Mexico.

This was actually part of a series of back-to-school projects that I used to do. If anyone is interested in these, just tell me. I’d be happy to rummage through my old ideas and post some of them.