Very soon, our first digital kid’s magazine will be launched. Here is the front cover!
As you can see, this issue will be all about royalty and castles… and a crow!
That being the case, we thought it would be a bit of fun to do something with coins! Have you ever done a coin rubbing?
Janelle remembers doing pencil rubbings as a little girl, and when she went to art school many years later, she learnt that pencil rubbings have a special name! It is a French word called ‘frottage’!
Pencil rubbings are done with a pencil and paper, and an object that has an uneven and textured (not smooth) surface.
Pencil Rubbings of Australian Coins
Coin rubbings are the done some way, but the object is a coin. Here’s how to do it:
Difficulty Rating: 1/5 – Easy
Supplies:
- Paper
Tools:
- Pencil (not sharp – a blunt one will work better) – coloured pencils can be used, but it is best to use darker colours
- Coins – other things can be used like leaves, baskets, wood, rocks, buttons, lace, and other things that have a raised, textured (not smooth) surface
Optional:
- Eraser
Instructions:
- Place the coin on a hard, flat surface (like a table).
- Place a sheet of paper over the coin.
- Using the pencil, gently rub the paper backwards and forwards over the area where the coin is. It is best that you don’t use the very tip of the pencil. Instead, tilt or angle the pencil so that more of the pencil lead is touching the paper. Be careful not to move the coin or the paper so that you get a clear image.
- If you wish, you can rub out any pencil marks that went outside the coin, with an eraser.
Here is the diagram of what to do:
After that, you can do what you like with the coin rubbing, but we would love to see or hear what you do. You may have some great way of using the coin rubbing in a craft or other project, so show us by uploading a photo into our Coin Rubbing Gallery, or write a comment below of what you have done.
Even if you haven’t come up with any great ideas, we would still love to see your coin rubbings. We think it would be pretty fun to have coin rubbings from all around the world, from every country in our gallery! We have started it off by doing our Australian coins and labelling them so you know what they are, as most of our coins have Australian animals on them. If you live in Australia though, don’t let that stop you.
- If your coins are the same as someone else’s, maybe your country has special coins for special occasion years, like we do in Australia, and you could do those.
- You could rub the side of a coin that someone else hasn’t done.
- You could do them in a different colour.
- You could use them as part of a picture.
Whatever the case… we would love to see them and whatever you do with them!
