Love, Melted Crayon Art

Love – Melted Crayon Art

What You’ll Need:

~ Computer

~ Printer

~ Kinkos

~ Exacto Knife

~ Scissors

~ 1 Inch Masking Tape

~ 3 Inch Painter’s Tape

~ Crayons

~ Hair Dryer

~ Optional ~ Photoshop

~ Rectangular Canvas

~ Large Piece of Cardboard

~ Pencil & Eraser

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How To Make:

1~ Go onto the computer, and find a text that you like. Dafont.com has a ton of really cool and FREE fonts that you can download and use.  Create a document and go to file, Page setup , and turn your document horizontal. Write your word (Love) using the text that you chose. Now Google search images of hearts and pick one that has a nice shape, and place it where the O should be. This is going to create a stencil for your piece

2~ Once you have your text the way you like it, go ahead and print it in black and white.

3~ Take your your print to kinkos and enlarge it so that it will fit nicely onto your canvas. This will cost about $3-4 depending on the size of your canvas.

4~ Take your enlarged copy home and place on your cardboard workspace. Using your “handy dandy” exacto knife, remove the letters from the large copy by tracing along the outside of each letter.This is going to create a stencil for your piece

Note~ Make sure to do all exacto-ing on a cardboard surface. You can ruin surfaces and tear your stencil if you don’t.

5~ Take your stencil and center it on your canvas.

6~ Using your pencil, lightly trace along the inside edge of your stencil to create an outline of the word on the canvas. Make sure your outlines aren’t too dark, they should be just dark enough to see. Remove any dark lines with an eraser.

7~ Once you’ve completely traced your word, grab your one inch masking tape and exacto knife. Place a small piece of tape just along the outline of each letter. Take your exacto knife and VERY LIGHTLY trace along the pencil outline of each letter. Remove the extra tape within the letter. Go one piece of tape at a time, each time trimming the curves. Do this around each letter and the heart.

8~ Now, take your 3 inch painting tape and cover the entire canvas except for your word. This will protect your canvas from splatter, so you have a nice white border. 🙂

9~ This step is optional,but I suggest doing it. Take your 1 inch masking tape, and place pieces on top of the 3 inch painters tape that borders your letters. In my experience the painters tape is not very good at adhering when heat and wind are thrown into the mix. I add an extra protective layer of masking tape  just around the border to seal it nice and tight  to ensure that splatter doesn’t get through

10~ Pick out the colors you want to use, and pick three or four shades of each color to create a cool watercolor like effect. If you haven’t already shelled your crayons, do it now.

Note~ Your shades should consist of a dark, medium, and light shade of each color.

11~  Ok! Now its time to start melting.Heat your crayon away from the canvas by blowing hot air across it until it’s nice and melty. If you heat your crayon too close to the canvas, you can melt your painting.

Apply the melted crayon to the canvas by rolling it between your fingers while touching the canvas… All while continuing to apply heat with the blowdryer. (The melted portion of the crayon should literally be rolled onto the canvas) The wax will roll right off of the crayon and onto the canvas. If you want to deepen the color continue to do this until you reach your desired saturation.

Note ~ Always keep your heat on Hot, but change the speeds (High, Low) to spread the wax in different ways. Low is useful to apply more wax and build texture, and high is best used for spreading the color or thinning. Also, you can use the “cool” or “cold” setting on your blow dryer, It will cool the wax instantly and it really helps with control.

I start with a darker shade as my base. Be sure to lather a large amount of crayon on there, and move it with the heat of your hair dryer. Then I add a lighter shade and do the same thing. This will give it a bit of a watercolor look. Once you start to play, you’ll get a feel for what works best for your design.

12~ Once you’re done with filling in your letters, take your exacto knife and lightly trace along the tape outline. This will prevent your edges from chipping when you remove the tape.

13~ Starting from the outside edges, carefully remove the tape. There may be some crayon crumbles as you remove the tape. Blow it off, don’t brush it off!

Note ~ Use your exacto knife to help lift stubborn tape edges. This will help with removing the tape heart.

14~ Once all the tape is removed, it’s ready to hang!