It's no secret that Chinese food tastes better when you eat it with chopsticks. Sure, they're tricky critters to control; but a noodle is much more fun when it's wedged between two bits bamboo. To help celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, I decided to decorate some chopsticks for my family to (perhaps optimistically) use.The most important this to remember here is that you use chopsticks to eat food, so please, be very mindful to keep a clean and hygienic work space.
- Acquire some basic bamboo chopsticks; it's best if they are individually pre-wrapped, but if they are not, be sure to wrap them in cling wrap to protect the foody-ends.
- Dip the joined ends into a tin of house paint and hold them upright over the tin to let as much paint as possible drip off. Craft paint will work, but you won't get the same dense, rich color.
- Rest them to dry on something such as a large roll of sticky tape, being sure to leave the painted ends projecting, and the wrapped ends clear of any cross-contamination.
- Decorate the ends further with another coloured paint if desired. I used purple and white paint, and a skewer to add dots. I did this while the paint was still wet so that the dots would bleed out in a nice marbled way.
- While the paint is still wet, add a couple of pieces of shiny confetti if desired. Stay away from glitter since you don't want it falling into your food later.
When you break the chopsticks apart, the paint will obviously break, and the look will be partially destroyed. For this reason you may decide that these chopsticks are for display purposes only, and use them to set the table, and then hand out additional ones (and forks!) when it's time to eat.
Enjoy your food with flair, and don't forget to love Partycraft Secrets by 'following' on the blog and on facebook before the 15th of Feb 2012, for your chance to win a set of personalised silhouette printpapers.
