Chinese Brush Painting

I finally brought out the paints, paper, and brushes. I set up the table for my men and we finished up the unit on China we have been on forever. We haven't moved on because I just kept putting this project off. The guide said to have them paint pictograms with brushes but I thought we could make it a little more artistic. I am in love with this way of painting now. It is so gentle and the painting evolve with very little effort on your part. Remy even got it down at the last moments and painted a very good fish, his best painting ever!

We used this book:

The Chinese Brush Painting Handbook

This is Remy's paper. I love his fish!

Elijah's web and branch looks as good as daddy's web and branch. Elijah spent most of his time on that bird.

I had so much fun! :) This one is MINE!

And now the Daddy Person's art...

Remy did have a bit of a melt down with painting again. He seems to have better control with pens and pencils and he gets the results he desires with those tools. He went away and had a good cry and then he came back and made that fish. He was so proud and I think it clicked for him. Yay!

Blue and White Ming Plates - Ancient China

We made our very on white and blue Ming plates. The Story of the World guide book suggests that you allow the children to make a bowl out of clay, allow them to paint on the white clay bowls with blue paint, let that dry, and then glaze it with glue. I began looking online at old Ming dishware and I knew we had to make something of better quality. We prepare alot of oriental dishes at our house because they are very healthy and YUMMY and so we needed something better than misshapen clay bowls with glue glaze. ;)

The craft store here carries a paint for porcelain made by Pebeo. You can buy porcelain or stoneware dishes, but we used stoneware because they are less than half the price of procelain plates. After you paint the dish it must dry for 24 hours. After the 24 hours you fire it in a 300 degree oven for around 35 minutes. It is dishwasher and food safe after this. :)

We googled images for white and blue ming dishware and then we got to work with ideas in our heads. I was sure to have books with birds, flowers, leaves, and marine life on the table. I even had a how to drawing book and that helped alot. :)

The boys thought this was the BEST idea I have ever had! Hee hee...

Remy's plate...

It has a sea dragon, turtles, birds, jellyfish, and fish. See if you can find them all! HA HA!

Elijah's plate...

I really loved Elijahs. :)

My plate...

I really loved the samples online of the busier plates, the ones that were completely covered, and the more you looked you saw something new. :)

Here we have Matthew's plate...he is such a show off!

Isn't that the cutest????

Tonight we are having a yummy meal on our plates and painting our pictograms. :)

Pot Sticker Night with Carrot Ice Cream - YUM!

The boys have been studying ancient China and I finally went to the oriental grocery for the pot sticker wrappers. We had a blast last night. :) I mixed up some ingredients we had like mushrooms, kale, basil, cilantro, tofu, soy sauce all in the food processor. I dusted a big pan with corn starch and set the boys to work. They were the BEST pot sticker makers in the world. :)

First you spoon some filling onto your little circle of dough.

Then you wet one end of the dough with your brush.

And then with your super cuteness you fold them over and crimp them. :)

I told you, they rocked at this!

All done...now how did the cornstarch end up on his nose and lips????

We did some in the pan with a little oil and water to steam and fry at the same time. And we also made some in the steamer for a dumpling texture. Matthew even made this YUM-O red sauce. It was good you guys.

While we were eating Remy declared that this was the BEST dinner ever!

I finished the meal with carrot and pistachio ice cream. Waiting is the HARDEST part. :) Guys, this was the best ice cream I have ever made. I made a red bean one one time this past July...but carrot ice cream is now my favorite. We have a juicer and so I juiced my own carrots and the fresh carroty flavor...let's just say I almost passed out it was so delicious. That first bite was like falling in love.

Hope we didn't make you too hungry. ;)