diy christmas present idea: crayon art

another DIY present project: retro crayon art! this is a really easy inexpensive idea i saw on tumblr (i cant find the link for it!) i plan on giving this to my younger sister, i think she will think it is really neat, at least i hope so!

things you will need:


crayons (i used a 48 count box)
canvas (i used a 12x16 but any size you want will do)
hot glue gun and hot glue
a bowl of warm water
towel/old fabric
hairdryer

step 1
align your crayons in the order you would like. i am going for a rainbow effect, but you can be creative and use only blue tones, grey tones, etc.

step 2
this part is optional, but i prefer the look without the wrapping. if you want to keep the wrapping on skip this step.

if you want bare crayons, peel off the wrapper. to make this MUCH easier and less time consuming, soak your crayons in a bowl of warm water. you have to figure out what temperature works best by testing it, too hot and your crayon will melt, too cold and the wrapper doesn't unravel as easy. experiment! i found if the water was just bearably hot to the touch, it was perfect. any colder and it didnt peel off as easily.

step 3
once unwrapped, hot glue your crayons in the order you like at the topmost part of the canvas. make sure to place the hot glue on the CANVAS, and then place the crayon on top of the glue. putting the hot glue on the crayon itself will melt your crayon and get it all over your glue gun.

step 4
place old fabric or a towel underneath your canvas and start blow drying! keep your blow dryer on either medium or high heat (i did high) and keep the speed setting at LOW. if you blast the crayons on high speed wax will fly everywhere and you won't get very neat dripping effects.

take your time, use different angles to blow the hot air and try to keep a decent distance from the canvas. blowing too close to the crayons muddles the wax together so you can't see all the colors individually. if you find you have bare spots on your canvas, focus on those areas. tilt the canvas at different angles to let the wax settle in different areas. if you have to, take a break and turn off the dryer so the wax can settle in certain areas of the canvas. be creative and experiment yourself!

finished!




now you have a neat piece of art that you can frame. i think this is such a neat and fun idea, not to mention colorful.

what do you think of crayon art? i hope you think it is as neat as i do :)