I am 17 years old, but I still have a giant box of crayons on my shelf. I seriously haven’t used a crayon since I was eight, but I can’t bear to throw them away. You never know; people get into situations all the time that can only be solved with crayons. They are essential to survival in this terrifying world.
In all seriousness, though, I do love crayons. I love their scent, their color, the texture they make on paper. But I don’t really have any use for them anymore. So, they have sat on my shelf for years without any use.
My sister recently found a new way to use crayons: melting them. When crayons are liquefied, they take on an entirely new appearance. This project is very easy and fun. No matter what you do, your finished product will look unique. This was by far the most fun I have ever had with a Germ article. I have no doubt that you will have fun with this as well.
Materials:
- Crayon
- Surface on which to melt the crayons
- Hairdryer
- Hot glue gun
- Newspaper– I would advise putting this down before you begin. This project can be quite messy. By putting down newspaper, you can avoid having a waxy blue stain on your floor for the rest of your life.
Step 1: Organize
Decide what you want to melt the crayons on. When I did this, I used white canvases and a glass coke bottle. The crayons looked really interesting on both. Experiment with different materials to decide what you want. When picking crayons to use, choose colors that you like together and decide where you generally want them to be. I took the wrappers off all of my crayons while my sister kept them on. This project will work either way; it’s just a matter of personal preference. Keep in mind that once the crayons start to melt, you will not have very much control. Don’t focus too much on a specific design because it is likely that the crayons will look different from your original plan.
Step 2: Glue
Choose where you want specific colors to be and hot glue them accordingly. If you don’t glue the crayons down, they will blow away when you start melting them. The hot glue actually gives an interesting texture to your art. The hair dryer will eventually remelt the hot glue, giving your product a shiny sort of glaze.
Step 3: Melt
Set your hairdryer to a hot and high setting. You will probably have to play around with the dryer a little bit to find the right setting. If you want the crayons to melt or drip in a specific direction, then point the dryer in that direction. If you would rather the crayons all just melt in a pool together, then point the dryer directly down on the crayons. You can also angle your surface to get the crayons to drip a certain way.
Step 4: Finish
The crayons dry very quickly. However, avoid touching your finished product immediately. The melted crayon will be hot, and touching it when it has not yet solidified could also change the appearance of your product in a way you may not like.
I left my products as they were when I was done. My sister added paper cutouts to some of her artwork, which gave it a different touch.
For this bottle, I glued crayons around the rim. When those crayons had melted, I glued another set around the rim and melted those. I continued layering until I could no longer see the glass of the bottle.
I put this canvas under the bottle as I was melting the crayons. The crayons dripped onto the canvas which created an interesting splatter look.
What is really fun about this project is that you are not stuck to specific guidelines. There are many different things you can do. Experiment with different colors and surfaces to create different things you like. You really cannot mess this up, so just have fun with it!