Printmaking, pop art color lithographs and soup cans. Many pop art projects for any age depending on what challenge level you wish to undertake.

After reviewing many books about Warhol and his pop art, I decided to get ambitious and try “Kitchen Lithographs” by using everyday household items to create the common prints that Warhol made.

While intentions were good and materials were decent, the result was more challenging than I expected. This is an art project for older students.

Below I have provided three different Warhol art projects depending on the age of your child or children and also the level of challenge you prefer.

Warhol Art Project 1: Easy Version of Kitchen Lithograph

Option 1: Color prints using either inversion website (just a photo and click a button!) Good for younger students

Option 2: Color prints using B&W photo cut out 4 times and then color in using markers

Warhol Art Project 2: Medium Difficulty

Can of soup art drawing – elementary

Materials:

1. Soup can
2. Paper of different colors
3. Markers and pencils/pens
4. Glue
5. Cut out shapes or designs (optional)

Option 1: Actual soup can sanded down or unopened. Remove cover and replace with paper and designs cut to size of can. Design with pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils or paint and then glue to can.

Option 2: Draw on a sheet of paper and color in with markers, crayons or paint.

A website that helps: Andy Warhol For Kids | Campbell’s Soup Can Art Project | Art With Jenny K.

Warhol Art Project 3: Challenging Kitchen Lithograph

Kitchen lithographs – definitely recommended for middle school age or up since it’s challenging and takes time.

Materials:

1. Acidic dark pop (soda!)
2. Paper
3. Foil
4. Vegetable oil
5. Roller press (like an ink roller)
6. Cardboard
7. Dish soap
8. Oil paints
9. Oil based sharpie marker (like this one)
10. Cotton balls
11. Bowl of water
12. Cloth to protect table (it gets messy)
13. Sponge
14. Tape

Kitchen Lithograph How-To Video:

Kitchen Lithograph How-To Website: (This is a better visual and works better than video)

This takes dedication, time and a lot of patience. We had to try it multiple times before we even got a somewhat good result. My older children got the hang of it and enjoyed the process, but the end result was very little actual printing. After trying again, I got a faint design of the apple shape on the paper. I recommend a roller press to get a better design. This is definitely a fun process even if results aren’t perfect.

Some issues we encountered:

1. Not enough acid from the pop – needed to pour more pop over the drawing or try a darker pop
2. Not enough soap or residue left over – needed to have a more thorough soaking of soapy water
3. Not enough pressure on the rolling pin to print the picture – make need an actual roller like this
4. Not enough oil paint on drawing – should have gotten a small roller to roll the oil paint over the oil marker

Websites to try different processes for Kitchen Lithographs:

1. Kitchen Litho: DIY lithography
2. What is Lithography: Lithograph | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The best response from my three children was my eldest – “that’s okay mom. You tried. I liked it. It was worth trying!” and that is art. It was an experience and an adventure. We may not have had the most satisfactory result but in the end, the process and time spent together figuring it out was the joy.