Making Artwork with Dead Crayons?

   I love Pinterest. It has many different links to wonderful DIYs and spectacular ideas for projects. Well, every time I'm on this amazing website I see an image of a beautifully made image that has been crafted using crayons and blow dryer. Sometimes the images also used construction paper or pencils to create a person or a TARDIS surrounded by the melted colors. This craft intrigued me so I had to do it.

   I got a piece of cardstock paper, close to 15 broken crayons, and a hair dryer. I then "winged it." I took the paper off the crayons and laid them at the top of the page. I then put the paper on a box in order to elevate it. It looked as if I was going to have a gorgeous image of running colors that pooled together at the bottom. However, this did not occur. I plugged in the hair dryer and turned it in the direction of the paper. The crayons immediately rolled all over the table! The color scheme I had been going for was gone. I reset the crayons. The question of how to secure them bounced around in my head for a few seconds until I came to the seemingly brilliant idea of using tape. I found some tape and begin securing the crayons to the paper. I then grabbed the hair dryer again. This time when it was turned on, the crayons stayed in place.

   I waited and waited and waited. It seemed to take forever for the crayons to actually melt. Finally, they did though. My paper became a cesspool of pinks, blues, purples, and yellows. There was no definite pattern, but it was astounding! I continued to train the hair dryer on the crayons only moving it off for brief periods of time so as not ignite anything. After a few minutes, I decided it was enough. The colors had made their mark and the crayons were nothing but stubs. I carefully peeled these stubs away and then looked at my masterpiece. It was not the most professional thing I had ever seen. It definitely did not even begin to touch the pieces of art that had seen on Pinterest, but it was my own and it was perfect.

   All in all, the craft had worked wonderfully. The only downfall was that in a few days the wax had dried and had become brittle. This caused the wax to crack whenever the paper was moved. It is probably best to put the paper in a frame so as to protect the wax, but that is something I have learned for next time. Good luck for those who decide to do this craft!