New kids on the block

Design your own block family for stacks of creative fun!

Paint your blocks for multiple block people

You will need:

Wooden blocks. We used blocks measuring 5.8cm x 5.8cm from Kmart, but you may have blocks at home or be able to find some at a secondhand shop.
Fine grit sandpaper
Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat
Resene Lustacryl paint testpots in your choice of colours
Resene Aquaclear
Small paintbrushes/artist brushes

Small ruler and pencil.
Coloured pens, pencils or crayons are also helpful if you have them on hand
Old newspaper or cloth to protect your tabletop; water jar to rinse your brushes; an ice cream container lid or similar to mix paint colours on (we created lighter tints of some colours by mixing two different paint colours together).

Sketch your set of characters and their outfits on a piece of paper. If you have coloured pens or pencils in similar colours to your paints, it’s quite helpful to use these to signify where each paint colour will go. Each character will need four different tops and four different bottoms. You could also change the hairstyle or add sunglasses/accessories to the characters if you wish.
Give your blocks a light sand and then apply two coats of Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat.
Select a small paintbrush and paint your skin-tone colour on every block. Leave to dry and apply a second coat.
Using your pre-drawn sketches as a guide, use a pencil to draw the outlines of each character and their outfits onto the blocks.
Select a paint colour that you’d like to start with for the clothes. Using one colour at a time for each character is more time-efficient, as you won’t need to wash your brush so often. This is why the planned outfit sketch is handy!
Once you’ve painted your outfits you can add any smaller details, such as facial features, with a very fine artist’s brush.
When you’re satisfied with how your characters look and all the paint is dry, apply two coats of Resene Aquaclear. This will give your blocks a professional finish and will also help protect the paint from gathering any dirty marks from playful little fingers.