Hi all, I have been playing in my studio again;-) The other night as I was falling asleep I was thinking that it would be fun to do an encaustic painting using Crayola Crayons. I have always wanted to do this type of painting but the materials to do it are just too expensive. Besides, I always have crayons around that I am constantly stepping on or picking up and a bucket of crayons that have lost their own boxes. After five kids there are plenty of lonely crayons to experiment with.I used a piece of watercolor paper about 9in x 12in, Crayola Crayons (the other cheaper brands did not work as well), and a small iron that was meant to be used in order to iron small parts of clothing such as collars (it looks like a wood burning iron only white and has a clover head on it).
What I learned from my little experiment? Well, as I have mentioned, the cheaper brand of crayons do not melt so well and that it was fun, fun, fun melting crayons. I know next time to put more crayon down before trying to make trees, or use dark paper under the wax and to add more white to the trees. I also learned not to turn the iron up too high because the crayons can smoke and to always save those broken pieces of crayon.
My boys wanted to try so next time I get the material out I will let them have a go at it. After I was done I asked them if they could think of any thing else I could use to make art with (I have asked them this before because I do altered art;-) They went screaming towards their playroom to protect those Legos that always seem to be on the floor and when I step on them they manage to hit on the worst part of the foot, the arch. Ouch!!! Hey, it would be cool to melt a whole bunch of them together to make a sculpture;-) (my oldest said that I could buy my own Mega Blocks and melt them;-)
Well, I am off to work on a portrait and to celebrate my 9 yo son's last day of Year 3!
7 comments:
very cool! i just bought a book on this 2 days ago....my favorite art store is going to get in all kinds of fun supplies for it soon, so it's nice to see other people doing this type of art! ; )
Rhonda, this is fantastic! It's a really beautiful painting first of all (and I would totally frame it and hang it on my wall) but it's also so imaginative and... different! I have spent hours today reading blogs and this is my favourite thing I've seen all day :-)
I think melting the crayons is a super idea! I mean, the result turns out so nicely, and it certainly has the 3D effects too!
But melting Legos? ^^ I think it'll take a lot of heating power to do that, and be careful with the fumes too, might be harmful.
I really liked that, what a great idea. I have lots of odds and ends of crayons. How did you do it?
I just melted the crayons on that little iron and then moved the wax around with it. It takes a thick piece of paper because it the wax goes through the paper or maybe it is the oil or what ever that went through. I used a wood burning tool to get lines in the trees and that is when I figured that there needed to be something dark behind the wax. After the main picture was done and cool I used more crayons and just colored over the picture over the trees and grass. Just experiment with it. It was fun playing with it.
interesting, I seen something once where someone melted the crayons on an iron, and then let them drip on the canvas...like you said play with it. Your picture turned out great...
Brilliant to hear what you learnt from the experience! You are so brilliant having a go at using other products to make art. Tracy Bautista uses melted crayons heaps in her book! Well done!!!
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