Hydro Dipping
he safety restrictions of COVID-19 can make conducting classes difficult. Still, teachers are doing their best to develop projects that will reinforce learning and allow students to interact with their new knowledge.
A student moves the spray paint around with a toothpick to make a unique design in the solution made of water and spray paint. Students then dip their Styrofoam project into the container to color it.
March 10, 2021
Hydro dipping is a unique form of art that consists of using two or more spray paint colors and a bucket of water to create multi-colored creations. You can hydro dip almost anything from skateboards to shoes to video game consoles. “It’s another form of a paint technique; the squiggles and patterns you can achieve are pretty interesting,” art teacher Jayce Ganchou said. Students first use a knife to carve Styrofoam. They are taught about abstraction, in which they do not attempt to try to make their piece of art represent something realistic and instead use different shapes, colors and all sorts of different marks to make an effect. Once the Styrofoam is cut, students coat it in white paint. Then they pick two or more different paint colors, fill a bucket with water and add the spray paint until the paint covers the whole surface. They dip their item slowly into the paint, wearing gloves to not leave fingerprints. To have more of a swirl, they dip it in at an angle and move the container as the paint is being applied on the item. Once it’s ready they slowly remove the item from the water and let the excess water drip. “I learned about carving the Styrofoam. I never learned that before. It was nice,” freshman Siena Van Beynen said.
