How to Seal a Sand Sculpture With Hairspray

Hair spray can keep your child's sand castle standing and secure.

Making sand sculptures, from simple castles to ornate fantasy dragons and science-fiction characters, is a creative pastime for all ages. While children especially enjoy putting their abilities and imaginations to work with beach or sandbox sand, sand sculpture competitions also attract creative artists and sculptors who usually produce sculptures and art with more traditional media. Children, parents and arts and crafts teachers, as well as professional artists, have found that using regular hair spray helps preserve their sculptures. You can even use hair spray to protect painted sand sculptures.

Things You'll Need

• Craft or spray paint
• Aerosol hair spray

Instructions

1. Build, shape and paint your sand sculpture with craft or spray paint. Wait a few hours for the paint to dry. Hold a can of aerosol hair spray about 6 inches from your sculpture, in an inconspicuous area such as the back of the sculpture or an inner part of it.

2. Spray that area for a few seconds to make sure the hair spray hits the packed sand surface of your sculpture in a fine, even mist that does not drift and is not overly concentrated. Move the can closer to the sculpture if the spray drifts. Move it farther away if the spray is too thick or if its impact causes any damage to the sculpture's structure or paint finish. Spray another inconspicuous area to make sure you have properly adjusted the distance between the spray can and the sculpture.

3. Move the can evenly across all exposed surfaces of the sculpture, keeping the spray nozzle or trigger depressed. Maintain the same distance from the sculpture the whole time. Use a new can of the same brand and type of hair spray if you run out.

Tips & Warnings

• Allow the hair spray to dry for a few minutes before you or your guests come close enough to it that you create vibrations.

• Carefully supervise your children when they use hair spray.

• Keep hair spray far from sources of fire, flame or direct heat.

• Determine whether you are allowed to use hair spray at any public beach as a sculpture treated with it may be considered dangerous to aquatic birds and other animals.

• Do not crowd around the sculpture, approach it from too close up, or walk too quickly around it, as a sand sculpture remains delicate even when protected and sealed with hair spray.

References

• Parenthood; Hands-On Crafts: Special Sand Sculptures; Jill Jolton