On your next trip to the beach, grab a handful of sand for a kinetic picture.
Kinetic sand art pictures can take from seconds to minutes to settle into a new sand scene. By shifting the angle of the sand art frame, gravitation pulls the sands downward into an ever-changing design. Because disparate sands vary not only in colors, but frequently in weight, they move at different speeds. These minute dissimilarities in sand grains guarantee that, like snowflakes, no two sand art pictures will ever be the same. With a steady hand and a little patience, you can construct a kinetic sand art picture at home.
Instructions
1. Open up the two picture frames, separating the cardboard spacer sheets from the back side and the glass panels. Clean one side of each glass panel with glass cleaner and a clean, dry rag. Place the cleaned side up on a flat work space.
2. Glue toothpicks along the edges at each corner on one glass panel with the hot glue gun. Turn the other glass panel over onto the toothpicks, lining up the sides with the bottom glass panel. Glue in place by applying small amounts of hot glue to the top side of the toothpicks.
3. Measure the interior trim edge of the picture frame for glass seam width (usually 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch wide.) Trim duct tape width with scissors to slightly more than double the seam width. For instance, if the trim edge is 1/4-inch wide, trim the duct tape width to 5/8 inch. Tape around three sides of the double glass panel, overlapping each edge of glass by the same amount of duct tape.
4. Place each type of sand in a separate envelope. Seal the envelope, and with the scissors, cut a tiny angle out of one corner of the envelope. Slip the cut corner into the glass panel open side and pour in the sand. Repeat this step until all of the sands (and glitter, as desired), are within the double glass panel. Seal the remaining open glass panel side with the custom-trimmed duct tape.
5. Measure the finished depth of the double glass panel. Measure the interior trim edge recess. Double the trim edge recess measurement. Fill in any difference between the double trim edge recess and the double glass panel by cutting narrow lengths of the cardboard backing material and hot gluing it along the trim edges. For instance, if the double glass panel measures 3/8 inch and the double trim edge recess measures 5/8 inch, glue 1/8 inch of backing material to the interior trim edges on both picture frames.
6. Glue one picture frame along the interior trim edge to the perimeters of one side of the double glass panel. Turn over and glue the remaining picture frame in the same manner to the other side of the glass panel. Glue the outside picture frame edges together with hot glue.
7. Clean the outside glass on each side of the finished kinetic sand art picture.
