Oh Jenn, I forgot to ask, did you purchase the glaze for regular ovens at Michael's as well? So, if I understand correctly, after the kids paint the tiles, you bake them, then apply the glaze, and bake again, right? Thanks!
Thanks all of you for your input! This really sounds like a fun project! We do have an Art Fair, but our aim is to make all of the projects free of charge for the families.
We've been getting some complaints about "having to pay money every time we step foot on campus," so we want to give something back.
I'm going to check out prices for tiles and paint to see if this is something we can provide for free!
Our school did a tile fundraiser with space for about 600 tiles. The principal wanted them priced at $25 pertile (we were putting the kids hand prints on the tiles) I knew this would be a big seller but we have families with multiple kids in the school that just can't afford the price per kid so we only sold 160 of them. After giving the faculty each a free tile it was enough to fill one of the walls we wanted to decorate. Hopefully they will continue with this project in a future year and just reduce the cost or do a "buy the second for $4". I ran the project so if you have any questions I would be glad to help.
We just did a tile fundraiser this past week. We had a Family Arts and Crafts night (which was SO much fun), but that's a whole 'nother post. Anyway...we sent home a flyer about 3 weeks saying something like "Leave your Memory at our School". We sold tiles for $10. We purchased the tiles at Lowe's for 42 cents each (6X6 square white matte finish). We purchased ceramic enamel paint at Michael's (most colors were on sale for $1.00 each). We sent up a few tables. Had nice brushes (all sizes) and let the kids go. Our theme was "self portraits" so all kids drew themselves doing whatever. These tiles bake in the oven (not a kiln - I just didn't like the kiln glazed colors that were available -very pastel and muted - that's why we went with these - very bright and colorful - we tested it and it was very durable). They also get a glaze applied over the top, then oven baked again.
They came out beautifully. We plan on doing another "tile painting day" after school a couple more times. This is a new concept at our school and we sold 38 tiles up front - I know we will sell double that before the school year is over once the parents see how cute they turned out. We plan on placing the tiles in front of the school to "frame" a mosaic mural of our school mascot. It will be great. This was simple and a lot of fun (so was craft night - we have parents asking about when our next one will be).
