C for Crayon Art (Day 3 of the A2Z)

Do you have kids in preschool or elementary school? If yes, you probably have many used, half used, and some unused crayons lying around forgotten and forlorn somewhere in your house. They eventually find their way to the dustbin. Mine did too, till I one day decided I couldn’t waste precious color. The world is just too drab to waste color like that.

So, the last time I melted old crayons, I made this jewelry for my girl.

But suffice it to say, it was icky and messy, and I just didn’t want to go through that again. I could make new crayons from old crayons but that didn’t seem satisfying either. Then this idea came along.

It is so easy, and a fun thing to gift to someone.

The only things you need:

• old crayons

• a canvas or a drawing sheet

• a pencil

• a ruler

• lots of patience!

The last part is paramount. I kinda got restless after the first forty-five minutes, and was trying to hurry through the process, when a drop of melted crayon dripped on my calf. Let’s just say… melted crayon doesn’t feel good on your skin. Patience… lesson learnt.

It helps to segregate the color schemes you want to use. I segregated the warm and the cool colors. Since this is something I am going to gift to a friend who is expecting twins, I picked this color scheme. It is known that two kids often look the same but have vastly different personalities.

I made a heart shape in the centre of my drawing sheet. You can make whatever shape that pleases you. I divided the outside area of the heart diagonally into two. On one side, I used the warm colors and on the other side I used the cool colors.

Melt the crayons on a candle flame and before the drop forms, take it on to the paper. Press the melted crayon on the paper till it is no longer melted. Repeat the steps till the crayon is 3/4th used.

Fill up the gaps in this way, until you have a lovely mosaic of colors.

You can add pictures or words or anything you like in the center of the shape which is left blank. Or you can do it the other way round. Unleash your creativity.

TIPS:

1. Melted crayons scald the skin. Trust me. Been there, done that. This art requires patience, and that you be covered so that a stray droplet doesn’t find its way on your skin.

2. If kids are doing this, supervise at all times.

3. Wax crayons work better than plastic crayons. Although plastic crayons do melt, they get stringy and pull up when you are trying to put a droplet on the paper. The border of the heart shape was done with gold and silver plastic crayons. I don’t know if you can see it, but the droplets are kind of peaky and braided with the remaining droplets.

Go ahead and make your own, or have your kids make an interesting piece of art with melted crayons.

Happy Mind Brewing 🙂

This post has been written for day 3 of the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2014.

Check out some other cool blogs on this challenge:

 

Genevive Angela

Guilie Castillo-Oriard

 

Also linking it to the Ultimate Blogging Challenge

Ultimate Blog Challenge

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