Make beautiful bubble painting Hydrangea flowers! Fun DIY dish soap paint recipe. Great kids art activity & easy beginner watercolor ideas!
This may just be one of the easiest and most fun watercolor flower painting projects, because you don’t even have to “paint”! Love blowing bubbles? Love to paint Hydrangea flowers? You will love today’s bubble painting hydrangea flowers!
When I first stumbled upon an image of bubble paint hydrangeas on Discount School Supplies website, I just knew I HAVE to try it! I had so much fun and made the paintings in 2 ways because I don’t want to stop!
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Easy bubble paint recipe
IMPORTANT: use paint and dish soap that are labeled Non Toxic !
( Some of the helpful resources are affiliate links. Full disclosure here. )
You can buy bubble paint, but it’s very easy to make your own! I tested a few mixes, and the one I am really happy with is 1 part (by volume) non toxic acrylic paint, 1 part non toxic dish soap, and 2-3 parts water depending on how thick the paint is. I used this cardstock, which held up great!
Step 1: mix bubble paint
Find a dish to mix the paint. Mine is about 6″x9″, and 2″ deep. Mix the bubble paint. Now let the fun begin!
Take a straw and blow some air into the bubble paint mixture. You will see bubbles forming on the surface.
When you get a clump of fat bubbles, take a piece of paper and gently press it onto the bubbles. The goal is to let the paper touch the bubbles, but not the mixed paint below.
You can repeat a couple of times to get the desired shapes and colors!
I used 2 colors here, one dish has rose pink, the other purple.
A shallow dish works well because the bubbles can come up easily, and when we press the paper onto the bubbles, the paper won’t touch the rim of the dish and cause smudging.
Step 2: make bubble painting Hydrangea flowers
Now our Hydrangea flowers are starting to take shape! It’s time to add some details.
For one of the paintings, I painted some watercolor leaves in various shades of green, cut them out and glued them around the blossoms.
I felt the leaves need to pop a bit more, so I used a pen and added some details, super easy though, just draw some lines! Now the painting looks a lot more finished. 🙂
In the other bubble painting variation, I first Painted some stems and leaves using watercolor.
I like using brushes with a nice pointed tip for watercolors, they are great for washes, and for finer details.
Again, use a pen and add some rich details with lines and dots.
My favorite art pens! I used #01 here.
Now a little gift / craft project- make your own sets flower greeting cards with these free printable cards!
Make your own sets flower greeting cards with free printable cards!
If you love the idea of painting with unconventional and fun techniques, here are a couple of tutorials you will enjoy –
Paint a Watercolor Fall tree in 10 minutes!
Paint easy watercolor flowers!
Hope you enjoyed today’s little project! Happy creating! 🙂
I cannot get it to work! I’ve tried extra soap, colors, etc. I get bubbles, just no color on the page. Any suggestions??
Hi Michele! Some paints are less pigmented, or may not dissolve as well as others. A good way to test is to mix the soap, water and paint thoroughly, and dip a brush in the mix then paint on a piece of paper. If the colors are vivid , then the bubbles should work. 🙂
Hello! I have tried this fun project, but my bubbles don’t pop. They just stay there and eventually leave big splotches.
Can you help me? Also, is there a video tutorial for the bubble painting?
Thanks,
Annie
hi Annie! that usually happens when the bubbles are not big enough. try make them as big as you can, maybe add a tiny bit more soap too. 🙂
I’m thinking about adding this to my Wall garden in the hallway that I painted the subfloor to look like bricks. Is it possible to bubble paint a wall?
Hi Jeannie! I love the idea but it’s probably a lot more challenging to bubble paint directly on a vertical surface! 🙂 Here are some really creative watercolor flower painting tutorials we put into one post, maybe try that layered poppy or another Hydrangea technique in there? https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/easy-watercolor-flowers-tutorials/
Never seen or heard of this before, but I love, love, and I say love this idea/designs. Thanks for sharing
This bubble DIY tutorial is awesome. You read my mind. Thanks for sharing this.
The bubble painting looks like so much fun!! As well as the fall tree with water colors♡! Is there a video perhaps, of you showing us how? Did I scroll right by it? I’m excited to try but unfortunately I’m more of a visual type of person and a video would be wonderful????????,, if not that’s okay I will still give it a try w mu songs who love to paint too????????.
Thank you for your time,
Kristine Marie
hi kristine! i have a spring tree watercolor ( super fun! ) with video- http://www.apieceofrainbow.com/spring-trees-watercolor-painting/. these don’t have video, but it’s a good idea, i will consider making some! =)
Thank you for sharing! I’m using the bubble art with my Pre-k4 class for Art in the Park( an annual ” Muffins with Mom event”.
thank you Nan! happy painting! =)
What brand dish soap did you use? I used Dawn. No matter what, I could not stir in the shallow dish enough to create big bubbles. I tried shaking in a shaker and pouring it into a dish, which made the big bubbles but they went down right away:( I LOVE this craft and am determined to make it work! Ha:)
Thanks so much for a completely beautiful and unique DIY! I can’t wait to have a successful batch!
hi jessica, i use trader joes lavender dish soap =) maybe try a little more soap to water ratio?
You know what?! I missed the part about using a straw to blow bubbles into it. Doy. I will try again;)
that should make a big difference! 🙂
They turned out so beautiful
Hi! I am thinking about doing this as a 1 day project in my VBS. How long does it take for the bubbles to dry on the paper? I am planning on painting leaves on white paper before hand and have them cut out the leaves themselves.
they dry within an hour 🙂 happy painting!
Ok great! This will be on my art program this year! So excited! Thank you!
I’ve been looking for an art project to do with my daughter’s 1st grade class, this looks perfect! Do you know of the bubble/paint mixtures can be made in advance? Thanks!
Hi sharon, if you cover the mixture it will still work the next day. Just stir it up. I would not store it for too long 🙂
I just discovered your page and I am so in love! You have Talent – thank you so much for sharing! There are so many ideas here I’d like to try! This one my kids will definitely adore. Thank you for the inspiration
hi gwen, thank you so much for your kind words! thrilled to have you here! 🙂
HI. My colors are not coming out nearly as dark as the ones in the picture are. Any suggestions? Thanks!
i would use darker colors, and repeat with more layers =)
This is great 🙂 So fun and effective :-).. Thinking of adapting this sightly as an art activity for my child (when he can be trusted to not slurp up the bubbles) I am sure he would love it 🙂
I have featured this tutorial in a floral craft inspiration list on my blog to share with my readers 🙂 http://www.jennamichellepink.co.uk/2015/06/11/12-fabulous-floral-craft-ideas/
thank you so much jenna!! xx
عالیه.GOOD
This is beautiful and cannot wait to try with my daughter. She loves art!! Thank you for sharing
thank you melissa!! enjoy!!
Thank you so much for the tutorial, I’ve been trying to do this for many times now and I failed, my mistake is that I only put a little bit of dish soap.
thanks camille! thickness is the key! hope it works now =)
hi there,
I just tried this out, because it looked so good and nice how you did it.
But it didn’t work out for me ;(.
I don’t get how to make the bubbles grow big. By me they only stayed small 🙁 and tried it many times.
I also don’t get how you put it on a paper?
Could you please help me out wiht this?
Really want to understand this…
Thanks in advance!
Regards,
Jiska
hi jiska, paints are different in consistency, if the bubbles are too small, try equal part paint, soap, and water. when the mixture is thicker, the bubbles can get bigger =)
just press the paper gently on top of the bubbles and lift off, that should work!
I love your creativity and that you share all your ideas and discoveries. 🙂
Wow! These look simply incredible!
This is so pretty and does not seem hard to do either.. Thanks for sharing ;o)
“Unconventional and fun techniques” – well said. And they are rekindling my hopes 🙂 This would also be great to do with kids, though my “eldest” (she’s three) might be tempted to swallow the bubbles rather than blowing them… hem…
i was tempted to swallow the bubbles too! =)
You are so clever, I love this x
All of these are so pretty!! I really need to have more art around my home!
This is beautiful! What stunning and creative art!
Ananda, I hope you are ready for company, because I’m totally coming over! You do the funnest projects – and you even seem to make it do-able for the rest of us! I would never attempt anything like this, but with the tutorial, I just might give it a try. So pretty!
awesome! we will have soap bubbles for lunch and spiced shrimp for dinner! xo
This is SUCH a cute method! I’m not exactly artistically inclined (my students used to make fun of me when I tried to draw stuff on the board back when I was teaching!!), but I love arts and craft. Definitely trying this!
have fun natalie! =)
These are so pretty! What a fun project. Thanks for sharing!
My son got to do something like at school last year. It looks like fun.
Fun, fun, fun!
oh wow! these turned out great!! who knew you could do that with bubbles.
I love how this turned out! You are SO talented!
Oh my gosh. This is seriously amazing, I am blown away. You always do such amazing things. I wish I had a tenth of your talent.
OMG this is so cool looking. I love how creative it is, and it is super gorgeous on the outcome. Thanks for sharing this!!
This is so beautiful and looks like a lot of fun to do.
Oh my gosh, I’m totally pinning this – GORGEOUS! And they actually *look* pretty easy too!
Wow!! What a lovely and super fun craft! I will definitely be trying this with the kids over the weekend. Thanks so much for sharing 😉
have fun sabrina and thank you for visiting! =)
This is way too nifty! I must give this a try! <3
LOVE how it turned out – VERY 3D! Super cute! I definitely want to try this with my kiddo! <3
awesome! have fun! xx
I have done bubble painting with my daughter, but nothing this lovely came of it! Maybe mom needs to do some bubble painting of her own! These are great! 🙂
yes mom needs to play more! xx
That is such a cool method and the results are gorgeous!
Okay, so I have to do this IMMEDIATELY! How cute is this?! I can’t wait to try this. I only hope mine come out as beautiful as this <3
yay have fun angelic! xx
Ahh this is SO cute!!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
xoxo
Lee Anne
http://lifeinatx.com/
How beautiful! What a great idea! My girls would be super thrilled to do this!
oh noooooooooooooo another lovely idea for me to try. I need more hours in the day
thank you cherie! i need 48hr/day too! =)
Beautiful!
My grandson wants to try it!
his will be gorgeous! xo
You are amazing. I have wanted to try painting and you are the spark that will get me started.
happy painting Liz!! =)