Crayons: I'll stop the world and melt with you.

I never cease to be amazed by the awesome projects I find on pinterest. the latest thing I've been fascinated with is art w/ melted crayons. I originally got the idea when I pinned an item titled '35 Uses For Crayons'. once I hopped on to that site I found a project that really appealed to me, it involved melted crayons. apparently this is based on the concept of pointillism which is when dots of color/paint/wax (whatever) are used to create a larger image.

Materials

MATERIALS:

• canvas-- I used 16x20
• crayons--I used crayola crayons because I'm a bit of a crayon snob.
• I peeled the wrappers back.
• tea light candle
• bottle caps- I used Snapple lids.
• beads

I stared at the canvas for awhile before I decided I would use a kind of argyle pattern. i chose where i wanted to begin my pattern (in the corner i think) and starting getting crazy w/ the wax!

STEPS:

wax dots/ step 2

1. choose your design/pattern; i marked the beginning of my diamond shapes in my argyle pattern by doing a light sketch of the shape with my crayon (crayon is not melted at this point). once you get going the crayons will cover your outline.
2. To start the process w/ the crayons, dip the end of the crayon into the flame of the tea light. you don't need to hold the crayon over the flame too long because it will drip. With the melted crayon you can either do dots (see picture) or color w/ the crayon.
3. Once I completed my pattern over the entire canvas it took me awhile to decide what/if i was going to do something else to it. I liked my argyle pattern but i felt like it need something extra, something round to even out all the angles from the diamonds.
4. I had been collecting bottle cap/tops for awhile for some unknown future project I'm sure i will do, while looking in my bottle cap stash i found some really cool Snapple lids. i don't drink Snapple drinks but i love that the bottle caps have 'real facts' on the lids. not only are you enjoying a cool beverage, you are learning something in the process.
5. i used hot glue to glue the caps, i ended up using orange beads (i was loving orange in this project) along the outside of the canvas.

DID YOU KNOW that every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees? thanks Snapple!!

Here is the finished product. Yes, I realize it looks a little weird but that's okay because I like weird and I made it. :)

Future projects: I had fun making and playing around w/ the crayons and patterns. I think it would be cool to create a mural of sorts w/ the crayons. google 'pointillism' for ideas. this would be cool to do with kids but you'd have to figure out how you would melt the crayons in a safe way with/without a candle. obviously supervision would be required but you're smart so I'm sure you figured that part out.....