galaxy art

I have to admit something…tie dye takes up my thoughts like half of my entire year. No, I promise I’m not a Deadhead or hanging around kids at summer camp. I’m actually talking about the fact that I do social media at my work for Tulip tie dye where I spent a LOT of my work time concepting up new fun tie dye memes, social media strategies, and new techniques for Tie Dye Your Summer. It’s my job to make that SPIRAL go VIRAL. LOL!

The thing is, I don’t really get tired of tie dye…it’s bright, it’s fun, and it’s super colorful and might I add there’s one part magic to the whole process. I decided to apply my love of tie dye to these fun mason jars and give them a galaxy/mottled look. Making these was so simple and once I got a hand at blending the bright colors together, they kinda get addicting to make.

What you need:

– Pint mason jars
– Bright acrylic paints in colors of your choice
– Sponge or sponge pouncers

Follow along via my video below or follow my steps to see how I did it step by step (I realize people like to learn in different ways, plus, heck, I’m promoting my Youtube, you can’t blame me for that).

I started off by dipping my paint pouncer and dabbing it off to get rid of the excess. I then dabbed the color large area on one side of the jar.

I went in with the next color and started dabbing it over top. You don’t have to immediately start blending the colors together. I found that as I added more colors, the layering just started to happen artfully.

I added in the third color. You can see the pink blended into the orange a little better than the yellow into the orange.

I kept layering the colors. You can use multiple pouncers or clean off your pouncer in between colors so you can start with a fresh color each time. I truthfully eyeballed the color shift and would add subtle blends here and there to make it look galaxy-like. Note: when I got near some of the hard paint lines I wanted to smooth out, I dabbed the paint super dry and went over the area I wanted to blend together. I found this was an easy way to make a subtle shift from one color to another.

After they dried, here’s what they looked like in all their tie dye glory!

Which one is your favorite coloration? I can’t decide if I like the orange and pink combo or the purple and blue!!

Hope you liked this colorful DIY! If you liked this project and would like to see more fun and colorful inspiration, sign up for my newsletter!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa
Also check out my other galaxy and tie dye creations below!

Make your own tie dye towel tutorial

Galaxy Art Pumpkin DIY

Make your own glitter galaxy tumbler

Glitter Galaxy Ornaments

Here’s a fun and different idea for making a super cool DIY pumpkin this year! Create a pumpkin that’s out of this world and looks like a galaxy nebula! This look is fun and abstract and no two pumpkins will turn out exactly the same, but they are guaranteed to be super cool!!

FYI If you like this post, you’ll love my DIY Halloween page called Easy Pumpkin Ideas where you’ll find 10+ project DIYs! Check ’em out!
10-diy-pumpkin-no-carve-ideas

What you need:
– Black Pumpkin (Mine is a Funkin from Hobby Lobby)
– Various Tulip fabric paints (mine have some definite messy/crafty love on them)
– Tulip Fabric Spray in black and white (not shown)
– Tulip Fashion Glitters (in coordinating colors to your paints)
– Paper plate or palette
– Cut sponges
– Brushes for making stars (optional)
– Image printed out or pulled up on your phone to go by.

Here’s a quick stepout of my process. Since this process is very loose and abstract, you can literally spend 10 minutes on it -or- and hour to get it “just right”. I want to show you my basic tips, but I encourage you to read up on some more processes for success.

Before I began, I pulled some images of “Galaxy Art DIYs” up on my phone to see what other folks have created. You can also look up “Galaxy Nebula” for various space telescope photos for inspiration for your design. I used these images as inspiration for my design, but I didn’t copy them exactly.

I started by sponging on a light blue base color on the top of the pumpkin, then I sponged in other colors around it blending them slightly. I had no initial rhyme or reason for this, but I did know I wanted to keep my colors seperated a bit and not too blended together. Next, I experimented with some fabric sprays. First I spritzed on some black fabric spray, which gave it a cool, organic look. I then went over top and added a few splatters of the white. Do this sparingly, because you don’t want too many as they will take away from your colorful design.

Note, you can also add “stars” by using the back of your paintbrush to dot on stars randomly all over the pumpkin. In my opinion, I liked the fabric spray look a lot better than the dotted stars look, but dotting on the stars will work perfectly if you don’t have fabric spray.

Admittedly, after I spritzed on the fabric sprays, I went back in and sponged a little of my pinks and blues back over. This is where I talked about getting it “just right”. You are going to have to judge what looks right to your eye! For a final touch, I sprinkled on glitter over the coordinating color of wet paint. It really made my galaxy pop!

If you are still feeling unsure and want some more painting advice before you begin this process, I found this video tutorial very helpful by Tutorials by A (she’s awesome).

Here’s a few closeups of my finished look. I think it turned out so cool!

What do you think? Do you want to give this galaxy art pumpkin a try??