Magic Rainbow Picture ("Magically Colored Drawing")

by Brana in Craft > Paper

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Magic Rainbow Picture ("Magically Colored Drawing")

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I was once at a children's birthday party, where a magician performed a very simple trick, which the children loved: he took an outlined drawing (black and white), asked the audience (mostly preschoolers) to "throw magic colors to paint it" (basically by shouting names of color and gesturing towards the painting). Anyway, I found it very funny to see the kids' surprised little faces when the magician pulled the picture out of its frame to reveal the full-colored drawing, and I thought that this is a fun and easily reproducible project to make with the little ones. And since it entails some engineering, I figured it was worth an instructable of it. So there you go:

Supplies

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  • Paper
  • Transparency sheet
  • Utility knife, scissors or paper trimmer
  • Ruler
  • Permanent marker (black)
  • Regular packing tape (clear)
  • Duct tape (colored)
  • Full color drawing (made by yourself, or printed out of the internet)

I used an A5 size for my pictures - which means I printed 2 drawings on an A4 sheet and cut it in half. I didn't have a transparency sheet per se, so I got creative and improvised by putting an empty pouch through my laminating machine.

Print, Tape and Trace

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Once you have your picture printed out (or drawn), align the transparency over it, and tape them together, but only the upper edge. Trace the picture's outline on the transparency with the permanent marker.

Security Tab

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Trim about 1cm of each side, lengthwise, leaving a tab at the bottom - this will ensure that your picture won't come off completely from its frame when pulling it out, thus revealing the secret behind the "magic" ;)

Preparing the Envelope AKA "Magic Frame"

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For the magic frame you'll need 3 layers of paper, which in my case (working on A5 size) that means 1 sheet and a half. 

I folded the A4 sheet in half, and cut out a rectangular shaped window in the 1st half, leaving a margin of about 2 cm.

Then I taped the 3rd half of sheet at the bottom of the 2nd half (sorry if the instructions seem confusing - I hope that the above pictures will be more clarifying.) 

Fold the 3rd half up, trim about 1cm on top, and tape its sides (you should get an envelope-like pocket).

The Decorative Frame

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Now it's time to use the colored duct tape to enframe our drawing. First, fold the duct tape over the top edge along #1 and #2 paying attention NOT to cover the opening of #3. (We need the inner pocket to remain open). Slip the colored picture in the envelope, behind layer #3; the outlined transparency should remain on top of layer #3. Then, fold the #1 window over it and tape the other 3 sides closed, first folding the duct tape over the bottom edge, then laterals (See 4th pic above, backside view).

Remember Step 2?

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Now it's time to lock your drawing inside the frame. Cut 2 tiny pieces of duct tape (less than 1 cm wide) and close the upper corners, leaving enough space between them to pull out the picture, but in a way the "safety tabs" won't go through.

Show Off Your Magic

Untitled video - Made with Clipchamp (3)
Untitled video - Made with Clipchamp (4)

PS: this works better with thicker paper like cardstock, regular printing paper is kind of flimsy which makes it harder to slip it back into the frame.