Tuesday, March 26, 2013

...and a baby step...and another...

...and before you know it, another week has passed.

I do feel better. I am not 100% out of the woods but I am doing better and trying NOT to overdo it (in bed by 10:30 pm every night!)

Firstly! Blog Winners! I didn't want to have to choose - so the lovely three ladies that posted will EACH get a Random Goodie Bag worth $50+ of various bits, embellies and papers! Yay! Contact me at injennuity.designs@gmail.com to arrange picking up of the kit. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your ideas!

I got crafty! Thought I would give the Melted Crayon Art a go, and before I did it with Emma, did an experiment in my Art Journal (where else?) to see how easy/difficult the process was.

Well...the process in and of itself is not hard. It's a bit time consuming and on the fidgety side, but not hard. So to get started, I bought a cheese grater at Value Village so that if I trashed it shredding the crayons, I wouldn't care. Searched all over and found this wee little shredder that stands maybe 2.5" tall. It's so cute!



So I scalped a crayon, shaved it down into little bits with the shredder and tried to transfer it to my art journal. Holy Static! I ended up using two paint spreaders to do the transferring as the crayon bits stuck to my skin and was messy. I kept it a bit calmer by misting the crayon bits with a mini-mister full of water.




When time came to iron, I was very surprised at how quickly they melted. Less than a second of heat seemed to be enough. I turned it down to a low heat so I could try blending the crayon together without starting any fires.




I engraved an angels"wing" in the plum/purple




I rather like the finished project. I even took my Creative Memories Lifter and with the short stubby end, gently carved a few designs into the thicker puddles of wax. It was easier to do when the wax was slightly warm. If I let it get too cold, chunks would fall out. I used my heat gun to lightly warm up my surface when it got too brittle.

Then I realized - I didn't really need to use my iron at all....I could have just used my heat gun! Oh well...I figured it out in the end.

Next day Emma and I got crafty together! My mother gave us basic 8" x 10" canvas boards and I thought we would try this melted crayon technique on. After a few minutes of showing her the steps, I decided to call this project, "The Art of Patience" as Little Miss Headstrong wasn't too keen to wait for instructions.




Those of you who know me well enough can start making wisecracks...

...I mean...I had to explain to her why I had to explain...it was a learning experience for both of us
the whole morning.

ANYWAYS! We managed and she did *brilliantly* and even did her own ironing (never held an iron before either) and while a bit timid at first, after a few tries at the melting she got used to it and was able to produce this!




Then she took my Creative Memories Lifter and engrave-doodled all over it.
(Just found out that she took it school, so I am not able to take a picture of her final artwork- hope it comes home in one peice!!!)


I tried to do something a bit more directed...we had just watched "Finding Nemo", so I thought I would try for a simple ocean scene with the sun shining down and some colourful fish peeking up through the waters. It worked fairly well I thought. I really like how the soft opaque white wax from the wax paper transferred in random dots all over - gives the water some rather abstract "spray" here and there.

Not sure if I will do more to this other than some fun engrave-doodling but all in all, I was creative and with my girl, and we were both happy with our efforts. A good day, no matter who ya' are.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the read, and your short work week! Take a chance this looooong weekend to do some crafting of your own!

See you next week...

Jenn

2 comments:

  1. What a fabulous project! Who does not have pounds of crayons that are to small to draw with hanging around. My kids would love this craft. Thanks for posting it. I have that grater that I use for my garlic. Great for this craft to. I read you blog yesterday but don't see who the three ladies were for your goodies bags. Congrats to them, I am sure they will love them!! :) Glad you are feeling better to. Happy Easter.

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  2. Thanks Jenn. I will get in touch with you tomorrow.

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