Melted Crayon Art
This Saturday I found myself wondering, “How can I be the cool aunt?” My niece and nephew were spending the day with me and I was hoping to find something fun to do with them.
What did I come up with?
Armed with several boxes of crayons, some canvas boards, a hot glue gun, and a hair dryer, we got busy! We did two different melted crayon art methods.
I learned about the first method from Meg at the blog Whatever. She has beautiful pictures of her hair dryer crayon art and it is even used in her blog’s header. Hot glue new crayons onto a canvas and then set your hair dryer on high to melt the crayons. Don’t forget to protect the wall and floors around your canvas from wax drips!
This is my niece’s finished piece using the hair dryer.
I couldn’t resist making my own. I’m not sure why my wax curved as it went down. That didn’t happen to my nephew or niece. They all turned out so different!
The second method came from this YouTube video. It ended up being kind of tricky, but shoving a crayon through a glue gun does work! I bought a cheap $3 glue gun from Walmart in case this would ruin the glue gun. We used old, left over crayons for this method.
Isn’t that cool?!?! My niece and nephew laid their canvas flat to get this kind of “drop” effect. You can also prop your canvas up to get a “streak” effect that would be similar to the hair dryer method.
I never do crafty stuff like this. What I realized this weekend is that the thing that stops me from doing this stuff is not a lack of enjoyment. I love art projects!! It is buying the needed supplies. It isn’t even all about the money. It is taking the time to go and get the stuff. How silly is that?!?!
What craft ideas do you have for me, the lazy craft lady?
Ok, when can we do this together?! I’ve seen pictures online but I love how your niece’s came out with the curved smears! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the glue gun trick. That one I haven’t heard of! I have a bunch of small canvas that I could use and hang in my new office space!! Let’s do it!
It would be fun to have a crayon art date with you! Did you watch the video of the glue gun art? I really like how that one turned out.
I LOVE these, Rebekah!! How incredibly cool is that?!? Must try. Just tell me this… does it totally ruin the glue gun? I mean, would I still be able to use it for glue after the fact, or should I plan on having a designated “crayon glue gun”?
I’ve seen mixed opinions of this online. One person said it totally killed her glue gun. She made it sound like she couldn’t even use it for crayons after she made it. Someone else said that it doesn’t ruin it, but that there might be some color left in the glue. Since I just did this on Saturday, I haven’t tried to use the glue gun again yet. I was planning on it killing the glue gun so I bought a cheap one from Walmart for $3. If have a really nice glue gun I wouldn’t use it just to be safe.
When I visited EMU as a high school senior, the RA on the hall I stayed on taught me a different crayon art. Take an old hot plate (like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/77978277/warm-o-tray-hot-plate-reduced-price – often found at thrift stores) and cover with aluminum foil. Press crayons on, melting them. Make designs, etc. Press paper onto melted crayons, then carefully lift paper off warmer. Pretty paper that is great for making cards, etc!
Ooooh! I like the sound of that!! I’ll have to try that. I even have a hot plate I can use. Thanks, Carrie!
LOL! Rebekah, don’t think I copied you but I have a post coming up with the same craft activity! HEHE! It’s been around the web so when my mom was visiting in early June we did this, it was so fun!
Are you going to be at Allume?
And I did “borrow” your idea… A day in the Life, except we are going to do just what your day consists of, not hour by hour pics although I love what yours is and am going to try and participate next year!
Hope you are doing GREAT as a Momma of 2!
This is a fantastic art Rebekah and i’m so excited to try this. Thanks for the post and i’m looking forward to see more this from you!
wow, nice! this reminds of the friday “art days” that I had back when I was still a teeny-weeny little girl… amazing artwork idea
I am anxious to hear if it ruined the hot glue gun. This could be on my list of things to do yet this summer with Kailey!
I haven’t tried using my glue gun again. Of course it has half of a crayon stuck in it…. I would just get a cheap glue gun for this project.
That is so stinking cool! I’ve never seen anything like this – awesome! By winter, my big boys will big enough to do the hair dryer one! So much fun!
I want to see pictures if you do it!
I remember doing crayon art as a kid but my mom let me have a candle and I would melt the crayons in the candle and smear them on the canvas like paint. I bet these would be a great way to keep my kids and the neighborhood kids occupied and having a great time.
I’m not sure which sounds safer: playing with fire or using a crazy hot glue gun!
I remember doing an even different one when I was little, we would fold the paper in half, color on one half of the paper, then my babysitter would iron it while folded with a towel over the top.
Then we would have a mirror image picture and the crayon would be blended from the heat to resemble a painting.