Playing With Crayons

I'm a grown-up that still loves crayons. I can feel my eyes twinkle when opening a box of Crayola 64 and my nose automatically dives in to have a long whiff. I've been having fun doing some paper batik & experimenting and thought I'd share the process that I'm doing. I did this picture in just a few minutes to show you, it's not particularly pretty or creative, just an example, it's best to really take your time & think your piece through. Crayon is unforgiving. It doesn't blend well. You should have your composition & colors in mind before starting. You can layer over some colors to blend but sometimes by doing so it will pull off the initial crayon wax. What you will need is simple, heavy paper, black acrylic paint or black tempura which I used, crayons, lots of muscle to get that crayon on thick and a little water. Make sure that the crayon layers are very thick. You can even melt the tip of the crayon a little if you like with a candle flame to make it thicker& stronger in color. When you are finished coloring & happy with your piece, crumple the paper into a ball. The tighter the crumple more lines & cracks will appear. Mix a little of the black paint or tempura with water and submerge your piece. The paint & water will not stick to the crayon. Gently wipe the black paint off the crayon area. It will looked aged & pretty. You can iron the paper if you like. By ironing the paper the wax will melt into the paper. Be sure to iron on the back side with another piece of clean paper underneath because some of the wax will come off. So pull out your box of colors & have fun!