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February 23, 2017

Melted Crayon Art

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

A few months ago I came home with an old vintage heating tray.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Just seeing the heating tray jogged so many good memories of making Melted Crayon Art when I was a kid.

I couldn’t wait to share this experience with my 8 year old son, Cooper!

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

A random trip to the thrift store has provided hours of entertainment in my home.

He loves it just as much as I do!

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

We’ve been spending at least one night a week after school playing around with colors.

We talk about our day.

We talk about colors.

We talk about how colors make us feel.

We relax together.

We laugh and make funny word combinations.

We learn from each other.

all while melting crayons.

It’s never about the end result for us. 

It’s about the journey along the way.

It’s about learning how colors change and shift.

It’s about learning what colors blend well together.

It’s about learning how to be patient and letting things develop.

It’s about trying new combinations. 

It’s about play.

It’s about creating magic with simple things.

It’s about quality time, with undivided attention.

It’s seriously one of my favorite things to do as a parent!

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

WHAT WE USE:

HEATING TRAY

You can find them on ebay, look out for them in thrift stores and you might be able to find some on Amazon.

I bet you could use an electric griddle too!

Just know that whatever you use, use good judgment. You don’t want crayon toxins in your food. My heating tray is just used for crayons. CRAYON ONLY!!!

CRAYONS

Use the ones you’ve got!! My mom saved a lot of my crayons from my childhood and when my niece was little, so we have quite a ton to go through. If you’re looking for a particular color scheme, you can buy crayons in bulk on Amazon. I did it for my ladies craft night last month to get all of those Valentine’s colors.

ALUMINUM FOIL

Crayons have a lot of oil in them. If you’re not careful the oil will get into your heating tray. Before I turn on the heating tray, I place a piece of aluminum foil and wrap it around the top, making sure to cover the edges to prevent the crayon oil getting into the heating element. Put on the aluminum foil before you heat it up or else you’ll burn your fingers trying to put it on a hot heating tray.

PARCHMENT PAPER

This is what we melt crayons on. If you use regular paper (like we do sometimes) the oils will soak up in the paper. Using parchment paper makes a better print. It’s also really easy to use/makes for a quick cleanup.

EXACTO KNIFE

Taking the wrappers off of crayons is a pain. Use an Exacto knife and cut the wrapper off.

(I find it to be VERY satisfying)

TOOTHPICKS/POPSICLE STICKS

You’ll want to move around colors, but you’ll burn your hands if you’re not careful. Use sticks!

GLASS OF WATER

Keep a glass of water nearby. You never know when little impatient fingers will strike!! Dip your finger(s) that have wax on them in cold water. The wax will harden instantly, and you’ll prevent some burning from happening.  Watch your sleeves and clothes. Wax is hard to get out of cloth. Use common sense and be careful!

PAPER

For our crayon projects, we always use a heavy cardstock or large index cards. You’ll want a paper with some weight. It will make the process a bit easier if your paper is thick.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Ahhhh the smell of crayons.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Speaking of crayons, you should watch this crayon video from my childhood:

Here’s my heating tray!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CRAYONS ONLY.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

So, I wrap it in foil.

Then I add parchment on top.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

I cut it to fit.  Heat up the tray. AND GO.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Now you can melt the crayons on top of the parchment.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Takes a few minutes for them to melt fully.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Use a stick to mix it up.

PLAY.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Swirls are fun.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

When you’re ready to make a print, place a piece of paper down.

We use big index cards!

Pull the paper up slowly. I find it’s best to pull from an edge.

Pretend you’re peeling back the back of a poloroid.

AND WATCH THE MAGIC HAPPEN.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

TADA.

We find that each color batch can produce 4 pretty good prints.

You can see that the bottom right is the last print pulled.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

The first prints are pretty dense.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

And sometimes you find beauty in whatever is leftover on the parchment paper.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

Time to make something old brand new again.

OLD: Framed fabric from Cooper’s nursery.

Insert crying emoji here _______.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

NEW: Melted Crayon Art!!!!!!!!!

I love how it turned out.

Looking for a fun creative project? Try making your own Melted Crayon Art! It's so much fun. See more on Shutterbean.com

More examples of crayon art:

Cooper’s Valentine’s Day cards:

My Everyday Life: Week 7 on Shutterbean.com

A nice orange/yellow/pink/red scheme

My Everyday Life - Week 6 on Shutterbean.com

I love how it can end up looking like topographical maps.

My Everyday Life Week 5 on Shutterbean.com

This was a crazy day and alllll of the crazy energy went into art making.

I am grateful for art making.

My Everyday Life Week 5 on Shutterbean.com

Yes.

Here's what the past week looked like on My Everyday Life- a weekly photo series by Tracy Benjamin of Shutterbean.

This was my color scheme for January:

Currently January 2017 on Shutterbean.com!

Hope this inspires you to make some melted crayon art of your own!

 


  • Jane M

    OH boy this project really does look satisfying!

  • Maureen

    Thank you for sharing how you did this….I was always wondering when I read your blog posts how you did it. I look forward to trying this out with my sons. Love the video about the crayons too. Your blog is just awesome! Thanks for posting such creative things to inspire us all!

  • Kristin

    These are so beautiful. Watching your Instagram videos has been strangely soothing….almost meditative.

  • Rachel B

    I have loved seeing your insta stories making art together. It makes me anxious for the day o can do bigger projects with my son (he’s two now). Keep it up!

  • Katie

    Yes! Can’t wait to try this with my kiddo- totally asked you about this on Indra the other day, too! Also- that Sesame Street video was (um,still is) my favorite. Obsessed with seeing how things are made.

  • Shannon

    This looks like so much fun! You seem like an awesome mom! I did some potato stamping a bit ago and that was fun too.

  • Lindsey

    I love the Sesame Street video! It was my favorite clip as a child and so satisfying to watch. We may be doing some melted crayon art in my house soon… Love it.

  • Michelle

    Thank you! I’ve been dying to know how exactly you were making these. It looks like so much fun. I would LOVE to see lots more how-to posts on your site for fun art projects. When you share pics of your projects on Instagram and on the blog it always puts me in a mood to get creative and make some art.

  • Adie

    Ahhh, I love that video! I think that Sesame Street episode is responsible for my obsession with crayons, pens, and all things stationary! It is so great you are sharing your love of crafts with your son, such good quality time. It makes me look forward to that age with my own kids. Although I won’t be sharing my crayon collection, they’ll have to get their own!

    • Tracy

      I definitely think that video had something to do with how my brain ended up! LOVE IT.

  • Kate

    So inspiring! Always enjoy your projects and style! I look forward to doing this with my boys once they are a little older. When I was a kid I would dump out my box of crayons and put them in Roy G Biv order! Love crayon colors and that video takes me back to my childhood! Thank you for sharing.

  • Jean

    The smell of the crayons is childhood in a box! I live not far from the Crayola Factory and it’s a blast to watch the crayons being made. Thanks for showing your creative process. I love this!

  • Caitlin

    Loved this post! Also I find your relationship with Cooper totally inspiring, I have two young boys, and it was so fun making valentine’s for the first time with my preschooler this year.

  • Jenna

    Thank you for doing this, I love the process photos, it makes it seem less scary and more doable (once my kids are a bit older)

  • letitia

    You can also draw with the crayons directly onto the parchment to make melted pictures. That’s what what my mom used to do with her preschoolers.

  • Maggie

    Tracy, my friend and I did this last night and had SO much fun! Any suggestions regarding something to spray on the wax so it preserves well? Or maybe mod podge?

    • Tracy

      Oh I have no idea! But if you test it out and figure out something that works, please let me know!

  • Sweetmaddy

    So fun! I love these creative how-to posts! Bookmarking for kid-friendly activities!!

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  • Amelia

    This is awesome AND you should try putting them through an old beat up
    Glue gun and painting with it – it’s awesome! I used that a bit in art school and had tons of fun experimenting. Excited to try your method now!

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