All week I pictured a big stencil reveal for the office, but it’s still a work in progress. DIY projects have a way of stretching out longer than expected, testing patience and commitment. Even though the stencil isn’t finished, it’s turning out great and will be worth the effort—there’s already been blood, sweat, and tears involved. Hopefully by the weekend I’ll be doing celebratory laps around the house and can share photos and details next week. For now, here’s the partially finished wall (the bottom edge above the chair rail is next):
While the big project continues, we tried a quick, easy, and free experiment: making an ombre effect on paper using food coloring. The idea was to let color travel up the page by soaking the paper in food-colored water, and create varying intensity by adding more color or shortening the soak time.
It didn’t behave like we hoped—there was no upward movement of color, just wet patches. So that attempt was a fail:
Not to be discouraged, we played around with drips and drops to see what looked good. I started with a few drops of red food coloring for a Dexter-inspired effect.
That would make a fun and creepy theme for Halloween: framed splatters around the house, or even adding faux “blood” over family photos for a spooky surprise. If you don’t want to alter original prints, you can recreate the effect on clear transparency with a red marker and layer it over photos.
Our favorite discovery was a simple series of colored dots on regular card stock. It started with three dots of each color placed side by side, pressing a bit harder on the middle dot so it was slightly larger. Then we let the paper dry.
Once dry, we framed the piece:
Instant, zero-cost “food coloring artwork” for our ever-changing gallery wall:
I love how the dots echo the circles in a nearby framed fabric piece. It’s fun to watch visitors study the wall and then realize a piece was made in five minutes with cupcake supplies. There’s something unexpectedly elegant and collectible about such a simple technique.
Thinking of trying food coloring art or throwing a Dexter-themed Halloween party? I’d love to see photos of any faux blood splatter or colorful dot art you create.
On a final note, this might be the shortest post I’ve written in a while. After a week of long, detailed updates, a quick post feels good—brief but satisfying. Hopefully next week I’ll have the full stencil reveal to share.