Incredible Art Using Unicorn Spit and Chains!
6 Materials
$10
1 Hour
Easy
I have a sweet co-worker who built her house from the ground up with her fiance and I knew I needed to get her an awesome housewarming gift. Her decor style is very minimalist so I took a chance and made her something with a little color.
Here are my colors, the chains I used, and the floetrol that you mix with your canvas color to keep it slick for your chain art. I used unicorn spit in Midnight Blackness, Purple Hill Majesty and Lemon Kiss. I placed some painters plastic under the canvas. This comes in handy down the line when you are getting the chains loaded with color.
I mixed the Midnight Blackness half and half with the Floetrol and stirred with a chip brush to mix.
Then I painted my canvas in a vertical manner using the chip brush.
Here it is all done. I will touch up the sides with straight Midnight Blackness when the flowers are done and dry.
Next I put my Lemon Kiss and the Purple Hill Majesty in two separate cups. I did not want the colors to mingle for the look I had in mind.
Using a separate small chip brush for each color first I dabbed on the lemon yellow color on the chain leaving spaces on the chain.
Then you dab the purple on the chain between the yellow. Leave yourself an unpainted tail to pull. You'll see in the next photo why.
Lift the chain off the plastic and starting at the top lay the chain down on the wet canvas in various loops back and forth.
Start pulling the chain straight down towards the bottom of the canvas and you will see a beautiful flower emerge!
The dabbed spit from your first chain pull easily wipes off your plastic and you repeat the process. I rinsed the chain in between each pull too. I did not want the colors to muddle at all. Loop your chain onto the canvas a little taller or shorter if you want for the next flower. It's all up to you how you want it to look.
Looking at my four flowers I decided I needed to add some shorter ones in between the tall.
Using a different loop of chain I dipped the whole thing (leaving a clean tail again) into the yellow.
Then I looped that onto the canvas and pulled.
Did the same with the purple.
Looped it shorter on the canvas between the taller ones. Lesson here - can you see I had a little too much paint on this one? You don't want a glob like I had....
. The best thing about spit is you can wipe it off and have a do-over if you don't like it or make a "mistake". (No mistakes in art though right?) And after seeing the purple only short flower I decided it needed to be yellow only so I rinsed the chain and re-did in the yellow. Looks much better I think.
. The best thing about spit is you can wipe it off and have a do-over if you don't like it or make a "mistake". (No mistakes in art though right?) And after seeing the purple only short flower I decided it needed to be yellow only so I rinsed the chain and re-did in the yellow. Looks much better I think. 
Here it is all done! I touched up the sides with midnight blackness unicorn spit and gave it a quick seal with Rustoleum oil based spray sealer. I gave it to my co-worker and she loved it! These are so easy and fun to do - I did about 4 more after this one - just playing with different color combos and background colors on the canvas.
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Comments
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2 of 24 comments
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These flowers are beautiful! Who knew chains could be used for this! Very ingenious! Want to definitely try! Thanks!
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This looks like a fantastic idea! I really want to try this with the chains! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
What is a “chip brush”? I have never heard this term before.
Is that greenish cast on the first flower just a mix of the purple and yellow or did you add some green?
Is there a way I can use this technique on the top of my dresser?