Marbled Masks

I wasn’t planning to do another mask craft for Purim this year but then as I brainstormed our mishloach manot a vision of these Marbled Masks came to me. Not only are they gorgeous on a mishloach manot bag (your friends will love the bright festive decoration!), they are also just amazing on their own! They are a fun cause and effect process art experience and super lovely once they dry. Hang them up, make a garland, or add them to your mishloach manot bags! I’m sold!

What You’ll Need

Cardstock
Scissors or cricut
Tray
Water
Nail polish

Putting It Together

Fill your tray with water. It does not have to be deep, just enough to cover the surface.
Pour some nail polish on the water. We used my super old nail polish that hasn’t seen the light of day (let alone toes!) in years. Some of it still flowed; disappointedly, many just stuck in the container. That’s ok, it helped me purge ha! You could also go to Dollar Tree and purchase some very cheap polishes in a variety of colors.
Cut a mask out of cardstock. I used our cricut for this but hand cutting would totally work too.
Gently press the mask cut out onto the top of the water. You do not have to press hard or have the cut out go under the water. Although with my many little helpers most of ours ended up submerged.
Carefully remove the mask cut out from the tray; turn it over and see the gorgeous marble design!
Place your wet masks marble side up on a plastic surface (I used our plastic work mats, but waxed paper may work too); let dry.
Once done hang up, create a garland or add to your mishloach manot bags!

Finished & Loving It!

I had this vision in my head and it actually worked out—don’t you love when that happens?! The masks truly came out simply gorgeous and I love love love them on their own and on our mishloach manot bags!

This is of course a simple and inexpensive craft. I really liked being able to use my old nail polish that I wasn’t planning on using for my toes anymore. What a great ba’al tashchit use!

But big warning: this craft SMELLS! If you can, do it outside. We opened our windows and our kitchen was still stinky. The fumes from the nail polish can be intense and you don’t want your kiddos breathing that in. So I’d recommend using less nail polish than we used or doing it outside or somewhere with great ventilation. We played upstairs until the smell went away!

You may also require lots of clean up. Our hands got messy with the nail polish so we used nail polish remover to wipe off the polish then washed our hands well. Was totally fine!

The kids were so excited to do all steps of this process art. Pouring the water was fun. Then seeing the colors once they opened the nail polish: wow! But the best part was of course pressing the cut out and seeing the colors transfer in such gorgeous ways. This is a wonderful cause and effect activity for the children to observe what was happening. And of course be fully absorbed and excited by the process.

And, as you can tell, I absolutely love the finished product as well! These Marbled Masks are fun and beautiful and a unique way to prepare for, celebrate and enjoy Purim!