Frescoes were common in Ancient Greece.  A fresco is a painting that is made on plaster while the plaster is still wet.  The plaster then “sucks in” the paint as it dries, so the painting actually becomes a part of the plaster.  Of course, in Ancient Greece, this is typically a wall!  But since I don’t want my kids painting my walls, we decided to create frescoes on a smaller scale. 🙂

To make your own fresco, you’ll need:

• plaster of paris
• something disposable to mix the plaster in
• something disposable to mix the plaster with
• something to measure water with
• a mold (I think the bottoms of cardboard milk or juice cartons would be ideal.)
• acrylic paints, paintbrush(es), and something to rinse your brush in  (These don’t have to be disposable, but something you’re not terribly concerned about in case they should get ruined might not be a bad idea.)  We just used craft acrylics.
• paper for practice paintings

Step 1: Lay out your materials and prepare your mold(s).

As I said in the materials list, I think that a cardboard milk/juice carton would be ideal.  These are typically waxed.  If I were using these I would just cut the excess off the top of the carton and the bottom would be ready.  We didn’t have any, so we used these boxes and lined them with waxed paper.

Step 2: Paint a practice picture.

Once the plaster gets to the proper stage, you’ll need to work quickly.  That means you’ll want to already know what you’re going to paint.  You don’t want to be making decisions while the plaster is drying!

Step 3: Mix the plaster of Paris.

There should be instructions on the package.  We used a pound of plaster for each of our pieces, and they were a really good thickness – a bit thicker than a floor tile, I think.  But our boxes were larger than the cartons I’m recommending.  I think we probably had about 10-inch-square boxes.  So if you’re using cartons you could probably do with half a pound or a little more.  (Maybe three pictures from 2 pounds?)

The plaster will ruin whatever you mix it in, so it must be disposable!  And be sure it’s big enough.  Measure your water, pour it into the mixing container, then add the plaster and stir it up with a disposable stirrer.  Be sure you get all the lumps out; our first one didn’t get very evenly mixed.  The plaster should be about the consistency of pancake batter.

Do not pour extra plaster down the drain or wash your container/stirrer into the sink; they will clog your drain!

Step 4: Pour the plaster into the mold(s).

This is pretty straightforward.  Just pour it in!  (Note: Be sure to use a level surface!  Our driveway was on a bit of an incline and it caused us some difficulty in having the plaster at the right consistency all the way across the picture.)

Step 5: Wait.

Yes, really.  But wait watchfully.  The plaster has to get dry enough to paint on before you can begin your artwork.  But it needs to still be wet or it loses the whole idea of a fresco.  😉  Ours took longer than the package said it would take, despite sitting out in the sun on the driveway.  I think it took around 20 minutes to get to a paintable consistency.  (That’s to give you an idea.  Don’t just wait 20 minutes before checking on it, as your plaster might dry faster!)

(BTW, my daughter is wearing pants under that shirt!  🙂 She just threw an old t-shirt over everything to keep from painting her good clothes.)

Step 6: Paint.

When the plaster reaches the proper consistency, paint your picture.  Work quickly but gently, and rinse your brush as needed to avoid mixing colors.

As this was our first time doing this, we didn’t want to miss our window, and I believe we started painting too soon.  (It didn’t dry as quickly as we expected!)  Some of the plaster was too wet, and the colors ran together like watercolors.  (Which would be an interesting effect, if you wanted to experiment with doing that on purpose.)  About 2/3 of the way through, we started to see it behave like we expected, and had a better idea of what we think it was supposed to be like.  It looks spongy when it’s ready.  (Like a dense sponge, though.  Not with huge holes or something.)

I don’t know if you can see what it’s like to the right of the feet in this picture.  That’s about what you’re looking for, I think.  Kinda like the curd portion of cottage cheese.

Step 7: Let it dry.

When you’re done painting, clean up your mess (of course!) and let your fresco dry completely.  At least overnight.  We left ours for a couple of days, just because it doesn’t hurt to leave it for too long.  Then unmold and enjoy it.  (If you want to display these, I’d probably use plate hangers.)