Glue Batik - a fun, simple project!

My 3 older girls (nearly 16, 13, and 9) all share the master bedroom/bath (our house is fairly small) and the room includes a sliding glass door. The door is the only window in the room, so while it needs to be covered, would be great to allow some natural light as well. Home dec fabric just isn't in the budget, so i've been wringing my hands trying to come up with an inexpensive curtain idea, that includes their creativity - since it is their room.

I happened upon this tutorial at That Artist Woman for kid-friendly batik. I love batik and this seemed an intriguing project. Before we launch into a curtain, i thought we should try it out. So i bought a yard of white muslin, cut some squares and handed a few to each kid along with a bottle of elmer's green gel glue. The pic is of my own example and I quite like it! the girls are at various stages of painting theirs, but so far they all agree that they like it (an amazing feat!). I'm picturing white curtains with small "glue" patterns, painted with blues and purples. Their walls are dark blue and medium blue.

What do you think? It's a great project, and while we don't homeschool, this gave an opportunity to talk to the girls about the true process of batik, as well as highlight Indonesia - home of the finest batik. See more about batik fabric HERE. It would be a great craft to accompany a homeschool unit study!