Fun Craft or Gift Idea

So I'm sure many people have heard of the awesome crayon melting craft. In which you glue crayons on a canvas, and use a blowdryer to melt them. As the wax drips down the canvas, it leaves a really cool effect. Well around christmas, I decided I wanted to hand make my christmas presents for my family. I had done "crayon meltings" as gifts before, and I knew how easy(and fun!) it was. However, I wanted to put a creative spin on it. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of every step, as I had to replace my phone. Here is what I came up with:

What you will need:

• Crayons: I used two 120 packs, and two 64 packs. I find that Crayola melts best.

• Canvases: I used 9 by 11 inch. They were on sale in packs of seven at Michaels Craft Store, I only needed five.

• A blowdryer: Any blowdryer that can get pretty hot will do.

• Black acrylic paint: I used Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint in Mars Black.

• Synthetic Paintbrushes: I'm not sure what kind I used. However, they can be found at most craft stores, they don't leave very visible brush marks. It would be helpful to have a larger and a smaller one. 

• A pencil: I just happened to use a mechanical one. Any graphite pencil with an eraser is good.

• Glue: I used tacky glue, it has a strong hold, it doesn't take too long to dry, but it also doesn't dry to quickly.

• Scissors: Any scissors you have will be just fine :) These ones were cheap from the dollar store.

Step One:
Choose what color schemes you want to use, you can do all rainbow, or all one color. I chose to use the favorite colors of the people who I was giving the crayon melting to. For example, I used all purples, greens, blues, yellows, and grays in one of them. The greater the variety in color, the less crayon boxes you will need to purchase. Of course, you can always use the left over crayons for future projects, or for drawing :)

Step Two:
Pick a silhouette to draw on your canvas, I chose to do an Africa theme. I looked up silhouettes online and drew them onto my canvas. If you are not able to draw it free hand, just print the image out, tape it to an index card, or card stock, cut it out, and you have a stencil! Make sure you press lightly with the pencil so you can erase if you make a mistake. Then, put some of the black paint on a little paper plate, or paint palate if you have one. Use the bigger brush to scoop up paint and put it on the canvas, and the smaller brush to spread it around your outline. Let it dry, it doesn't take long :)

Step Three:
Arrange your crayons on the canvas, and glue them down. If you have your canvas in landscape, meaning you are gluing your crayons on a longer side, you would need more crayons. If you have your canvas in portrait, which means you are gluing your crayons on a shorter side, you would need fewer crayons. I chose not to, but you can cut the wrapper off your crayons. Take a sharper knife, and make a cut straight down the crayon. You may need to apply some pressure, and voila, the wrapper should easily peel off. Don't go too fast, to prevent the knife from slipping. If there is any indentation in the crayon, from the knife, just glue that side to the canvas so it doesn't show.

When you are done those steps you should have something like this:

Step Four:
 Unless you want colorful crayon wax walls, cover them! I used a trash bag, that I cut at the seam, and poster board. I taped it to my dresser, using scotch tape, that way there would be no chance of me taking paint off the walls. That would be just my luck. Cut out a piece of card board that is relatively the same size as your silhouette. Prop your canvas up against the covered wall and you a ready to start melting!

Step Five:
Start blowdrying! It is best to hold the blowdryer facing forward at first, to get the crayons started. Then point the blowdryer downwards to direct the wax in that direction. Hold the piece of cardboard firmly against the silhouette when the wax reaches it, so that the wax won't cover it. As you can see below, I kind of messed up on this step with the tree, but it still ended up looking cool! I had to scrape off some wax, and paint over it where it was too opaque. Be careful, it does get hot, you might need to take a quick break if you are doing a lot of canvases :) After about 5 minutes, your crayons should be pretty much melted and your finished product should turn out something like this:

All Done!!! Don't forget to sign your creation!( I hadn't done that yet in this picture) Also, let me know what ideas you come up with for this project. Thanks for reading :)