Back to school was always full of excitement. Getting new school supplies was one of my favorite things in the world, and I often wish it was still a yearly tradition! This DIY gets pretty close, though, and is a really simple way to make a festive and colorful piece of art.
The project, which is quite simple, is a fantastic idea that I came across on the adorable blog, Whatever. Essentially, you affix crayons to the top of a canvas, and blast them with a hair dryer. Watch as the colors bleed down the canvas, creating a beautiful, colorful mess! I can imagine this being a great project to hang in a child's room. I might remove the crayons from the top of the canvas once I was done, or perhaps tape off the canvas to create a clean border. Selecting specific colors and playing with the composition could yield some great results! Just in time, too, because we've seen crayons on sale all over the place for back to school!
Great idea for adults, kids, and adults remembering what it felt like to be a kid!
Images: Whatever
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great idea. definitely would remove the crayons, and choose complimentary colors to the room I would display it in for a more 'adult' look.
And Crayola works a *lot* better than Roseart, or generic crayons! Their colors transfer better than cheaper varieties.
To cite my source, http://gizmodo.com/5826505/why-you-should-never-buy-knock+off-crayons (other sources listed at the bottom of article).
This is a must-do project.
Love it!
Absolutely fantastic!
Cool! It would look interesting hung with the drips going horizontally.
Jessica! Where did you find this ?
http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/2011/08/party-inspiration-20-back-to-school.html
; )
It probably smells good, too. I love the smell of crayons.
I'm not sure a regular hair dryer would work. That looks like one of those industrial heat sources used for setting glue, etc. If a regular hair dryer was hot enough to melt crayons, think about how hot it would be on your head. I think a hair dryer would just make them malleable, but I could be wrong. At any rate, I love the art work and think it's a clever idea.
Nope, I take it back. I went to the "Whatever" blog and I guess it was a regular hair dryer. I guess crayons have a lower melting point than I thought. My bad.
Um, AWESOME! Love this.
Maybe if you take the Crayola wrapper off the crayons before you melt them, it could look a little neater, but I think overall, the point of this project is for the messy to be beautiful.
I seriously adore this.
@Miamis Elaine: here's to you ;-) -->
http://www.demeterfragrance.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=1117
had no test of it by myself, sorry, so I can't say wether it smells authentic or not. Just bookmarked it some time ago b/c so curious about it. If anyone here had a trial with it, please let me hear!
Going to buy crayons and make art!! thank you for the idea
I hear you can achieve a similar effect, but without the crayons on top by pushing crayons through a glue gun.
Thanks, baras!
Do not hit the crayons with a blow-dryer without the wrappers on.
Been there, done that, it's a hot mess (literally).
If you want it sans-crayola marketing, hot glue the bare crayons to your canvas and set it outside on a hot, sunny day.
I love the idea....I wonder what it might be like to have several hues going vertical and then rotate the canvas when dry and do another color perpendicular to the first
I agree it would look even better without the wrappers. Great idea!
That is a normal hair dryer shown in the picture, I used to own the same one a few years ago. This is a really cool idea, I think I want to do it for my daughter's room with different shades of purple and green to match her decor.
It's gorgeous! I want to make one for my granddaughter this winter when cabin fever sets in. Maybe one for my daughter with just black, gray, and reds.
Just made this and love it. I had a bit of an issue adhering the crayons to the canvas. I didn't want to leave the crayons on the canvas when I was finished. I first taped the crayons together with masking tape but as I heated the crayons they slowly started to slip and eventually fell. I ended up using duct tape to re-tape the crayons that had fallen. I would also suggest using the low setting on your hair dryer. It might take a bit longer but when using the hair dryer on high, the wax had a tendency to splatter.
So cool! Here's another one I learned in elementary school. Put crayon shavings between two pieces of waxed paper, and iron (I guess on a low heat level). Neat-o!
This is absolutely wonderful! Being an Art teacher and Artist myself, I can see all children and adults get really into this. Thanks so much for sharing!
LOVE this!!! So clever!
When I was a little girl, I used to melt crayons on the light bulbs of lamps. My mother would come into the room and the smell was a dead giveaway! I am going to try this!
My bf Matt and I make custom melted crayon artwork. If you'd like to check it out, here's a link: http://thegrandcrayonyon.tumblr.com - Thank you! :)
Love it!!
This is an incredible idea. The bright colors would make this perfect for a child's room. I'm definitely going to give this a go for my little boy's room. He's sure to love it! Just to make sure, is Crayola the best crayons to use for this?
I did this - woefully didn't turn out NEARLY as lovely.
No matter which way I angled the hair dryer or what setting I had it on, the melt refused to drip in lines. It just sort of 'mushed' into duller coloured lumps and spatter.
I used Crayolas, and removed all the browns, blacks and grubby colours. Can only think that even on the lowest setting my hair dryer has too powerful a 'blow'....
Anyone else tried this and got any ideas? Why it might have gone wrong or how these issues could be avoided?
I did a project in high school that involved melting the crayons in muffin tins over hot water and then painting with them on fabric. Made a cool design of interlocking multi-colored wheels. The teacher like it so much she laid paper over it and ironed to transfer for a second copy, which is another neat thing to try.
You pin the fabric taut over a cardboard box to paint on it.
Hmm, after reading all the comments, on how it works and transfers, i am thinking of trying this out by:
1. taping the crayons on with duct tape
2. putting some wax paper over it
3. heating with an iron instead of a blow dryer..
I just did this on an existing frame from a thrift store. I painted over the random dude's photo (sorry random dude!) with black paint, then duct-taped dollar store crayons to the top and melted them with my hair dryer on "hot" and "low". I tossed the crayons when I was done.
It looks great, but next time I would definitely use Crayolas like Pixelbaby suggests. The dollar store crayons were really watery and I had to build up a LOT of wax to get a good color payoff. The texture looks kind of cool too, though.
So funny, but my mom used to give us something similar to do as a rainy day project in the 70s and 80s. it involved an electric hot plate very much like this one-http://etsy.me/LTy3Ui, set on low (so we didn't burn ourselves), you lay a piece of paper over the hot plate and then use crayons to "paint" since they melt as you draw with them. It was one of my favorite activities as a child.
I just did this today. I switched it up a bit by adding my daughters silhouette and it turned out ok for my first time. It was so simple and fun that I will be stocking up on the canvas and crayons for a while!! A few suggestions to those who want to try it out.... glue your crayons on straight instead of at an angle. This way your colors don't blend into ugly browns when they run down. (I left out all black, brown, and gray shades) I didn't think that one through until half my crayons were glued at an angle. I also cut up a large garbage bag and used it to protect the deck from the splatter. Overall, I can't wait to do this again.
I would love to make this for my room! Honestly I think that the people who think that it looks better without the wrap ate wrong. I LOVE the look with the wrap.
To DC Mandy
What is so great about the iron and wax paper, does it make it look better? Please let me know! I am dying to get started on this but don't know which way to do it. To many suggestions!
it is coool
IT IS GOOD FOR KIDS IN OUR SHOOL