It's melting... Melting!!

Want a colorful, fun project to do that always seems to come out awesome? I've got just the thing for you. This would be great to do with a kid. But it is important that an adult assists.

Materials needed:

• Canvas in the size of your choosing
• Crayons (I recommend Crayola, but pretty much all crayons will work)
• Hot Glue Gun
• Hair Dryer
• Drop cloth / newspaper

Optional supplies:

• Paint
• Stickers

First thing is first, you need to pick out what size you want to make your wall art. You really don't need anything special in terms of canvas. I would probably suggest a standard or "value" canvas that you can pick up at any craft store. You can even pick out multiple canvases and make it all connect in some way.

You don't need to do anything to the canvas to get it ready. However, if you want a different color background (say black) all you have to do is paint it black. Do let it dry completely before attaching anything to it.

I opened my pack of crayons and started to arrange them in the color order that I decided on. You can do a rainbow as I did, you can randomly use crayons or just use certain colors. I lined the crayons up and made sure the colors were exactly as I wanted.

The next step is to use your hot glue gun (parent's job) to attach the crayons in a row along one side of the canvas. You don't want space between the crayons, so glue them one right next to the other. You can choose to leave the wrappers on or take them off. With Crayola crayons, I have seen some people line up all of the logos facing out. I decided to do it  little more random. Plus, I wanted to see some of the color names.

Once your crayons are all glued down in a line the fun part comes. Now it gets hot!

(Disclaimer : Although this seems obvious, please be careful. The crayons are very hot when they are dripping. Please use caution, especially with children.)

Stand your Canvas vertically, actually, I suggest a slight tilt so that it isn't totally vertical. It's important to have a drop cloth not only below it, but behind it if you are doing it up against a wall. The wax will not only drip down, but will go wherever it wants, including the wall behind the canvas.

Take a hair dryer and slowly move back and forth on the top of the piece. This may take a bit of time, depending on a variety of factors. Don't be discouraged that it isn't immediate. When it starts, it happens slowly. As it does, you will want to stay focused on one area at a time allowing the drips to grow larger. If your drips don't continue to flow downward you can always take the hair dryer to the location where the crayon is gathering and blow dry it down from there. I recommend not moving the airflow back and forth fast after it starts dripping unless you want sideways motion in your drips. If you look closely at my picture below you can tell that there was some sideways motion (which is what I wanted). If you want to avoid that, I also recommend a lower setting on the hair dryer. It takes longer, but drips more steadily.

Here I painted my canvas prior to attaching crayons. I also chose crayons I thought would look neat on the darker background. I picked the "reject" crayons from the rainbow I made. Browns, whites, grays, silver etc. I also used some of the colors that I just didn't have room for. I also decided to make it a set. I used two 11x14 canvases.

I have seen some neat pieces where stickers were attached to the canvas before the melting occurred. Then after the crayons were melted they removed the stickers to reveal an un-crayoned area. Think about using letters to make a quote or a child's name. Some people also use drawings and other media to enhance their artwork. [ <-- Click on link to view items on etsy].


I love my crayon drip pieces! They are such fun.
As always, let me know if you have any questions. I would be glad to help!