Sunday, September 25, 2011

Crayons + Hair Dryer

Here's my latest project... melted crayon art! For this one I removed all the wrappers (a VERY tedious job) and broke my crayons into random sizes. Simply slap 'em to the top of your canvas with some glue, allow the glue to dry completely, and melt away to your heart's content. I like to turn my crayon art upside down after the wax dries so the wax looks like its running up the page instead of down. I also used my hair dryer to guide the wax in different directions as it melted. I was after a coral reef motif!

It splatters A LOT so use a backdrop! In fact, cover everything within three feet of your project and don't wear your favorite jeans!

These were Prang brand crayons, which I discovered melted differently than the Crayola brand.  Crayola melts evenly and quickly, drying smooth and shiny, but it's easy to mottle the colors because they mix together easily. I ended up with a lot of gray and brown areas.  Prang results in more textured, matte wax. Because it melted slowly, the Prang wax builds up a little forming neat looking drips that stand off the canvas, and the colors don't mix together as much. You should try both and decide which you like better. I really like both but loved the results from Prang the best.





Here's a look at my first attempt. I was thrilled with the results! It was extremely fascinating to just watch the colors swirl and move together like paint with a mind of its own. Melting crayons is highly addictive so be prepared to spend a small fortune on crayons.

Or just use the ones you have lying around the bottom of your craft drawer.




I use a few metallic crayons for added shimmer :) 

Melted wax is definitely my new favorite medium!!


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