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One of my favorite things about the Ghost Mosaic Bean Art is that is is easy to do. It is a great beginner project. The beans adds depth and interest to the mosaic. As far as art projects go, beans are relativity cheap to purchase!
This is a simple art piece to make but it is time consuming. It took me about 3 hours from start to finish to complete the 9x12 Ghost Mosaic. Because of this, I recommend this craft for older kids and teens.
Items Needed To Make Mosaic
9x12 Canvas Board
Black Paint
White Paint
Pencil
Dried Black Beans
Dried Navy Beans
Elmer's School Glue
Mod Podge (Optional)
It is important to use a stiff board to create this Mosaic. By the time you glue hundreds if not thousands of beans to the board it gets heavy. Using a regular stretched canvas will not work. You need to use a Canvas Board or also known as Canvas Panel for this project.
What is the difference between a Stretched Canvas and Canvas Board? A stretched canvas is a frame with a canvas stretched over it and the ends stapled to the back. Because the canvas is stretched over a frame, the center is just the canvas. While a Canvas Board is glued to a solid cardboard making them stiffer.
I used a 9x12 Canvas Board for this project. I sketched a simple ghost figure on the Canvas Board. I recommend sketching it out with a pencil so you can erase unwanted lines or mistakes. I used a black marker for this demonstration so it would show up better in photos.
Paint the eyes, mouth and background black. Let the paint dry completely before moving onto the next step.
It is now time to start glueing the beans to the mosaic. Start with one of the eyes and lay a thick layer of Elmer's School Glue so the eye is completely covered. Place a black bean in the middle and then continue to lay more black beans around that center bean until the eyes is completely covered. Repeat process for the other eye and mouth.
I used dried Navy Beans for the ghost body. They are naturally an off white color and slightly bigger than the black beans. I started by outlining the space by first glueing the white beans around the ghost. I wanted the beans on the ghost to go in a vertical directions. So I would outline sections and then fill in the blank areas with more beans. Don't be afraid to use a lot glue.
Once the ghost is completely covered with beans, it is now time to fill in the background with more dried black beans. Because it is such a large area it is best to work in sections. Cover a section in a thick layer of glue and place as many beans as you can fit in the space. Than move to the next section until everything is covered.
This last step is optional but I wasn't liking that the ghost was off white. I wanted it to be completely white so I painted over the dried navy beans with a thin coat of white paint. After everything has dried you can also give the Ghost Mosaic some more strength by adding a coat of Mod Podge.
Play around with different ghost shapes. Just remember that art is suppose to be fun!
Do you like this Ghost Mosaic Bean Art tutorial? Be sure to check out these other Halloween Art Projects on the blog...
