Chevron Melting Crayons

Tutorial

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Craft Inspiration

So this project was inspired by this pin that I found on Pinterest. I've already done the normal rainbow dripping crayons project and I felt like the chevron pattern would be a cool project to do next.

I decided (partially because of my smaller canvas) to make my pattern thicker and use less colors.

I read the blog that did the tutorial for this project but there weren't step by step instructions and also, she used the 'crayons-in-the-hot-glue-gun' method while I chose the hairdryer method.

I've never used the hot glue gun for anything more than gluing things down but I imagine that putting crayons through the gun leaves it a little messy, so I chose a different (and hopefully neater) path.




Here are the supplies you'll need:

• Canvas
• Crayons (Only about 5 or 6)
• Scissors
• Tape (I wouldn't recommend duct tape)
• Hairdryer
• Ruler
• Newspaper
• White paint (For covering mistakes. Optional.)

Step 1: Choose your colors.

I picked out 6 colors but only ended up needing to use 5. 

How many colors you end up using all depends on the thickness of your chevron pattern and the length of your canvas.

You can use the ruler to measure out how thick you want each chevron to be and then see how many crayons you'll need.

Step 2: Peel the crayons.

Step 3: Make the tape into a zig zag formations, and then make an exact replica. 

Now, I used duct tape, but it wasn't the best choice of tape. It stuck to the canvas, but a little too well once I turned on the hairdryer. There were bits of residue from the duct tape once I tore it off, but luckily it got covered by the dripping crayons.

Step 4: Use the hairdryer to melt the crayons.

What I realized works best is holding the hairdryer parallel to the canvas so that the hot air blows down, parallel to the canvas. If you just blow the hot hair straight on (perpendicular)  to the crayon, then it sprays out crazy and doesn't drip nicely. 

The problem with the hairdryer method is that the melted crayons are really unpredictable. They sometimes spray all over the place and can be super frustrating, but eventually you'll get the technique down.

If not, don't worry, I have a cheating solution that I used. 

Here's a close up of the crayon/hairdryer. 

What I would recommend doing to make the chevron pattern look better, is tracing the outline of the tape with the half melted crayon. That way there is a bold chevron pattern, and then crayons melting down.

I felt like that little step would make my project look better, but it's up to the individual artist.

**Note: Save the leftover crayons- you may need them later.

Step 5: Move the tape up.

Now here is when it starts to get a little messy and frustrating.

It's at this step where you realize that it doesn't look as good as you thought or where the tape sticks or where you see the crayons spattering in unwanted areas but IT'S OKAY. 

Like I said earlier, I found a way to (kinda) fix the mistakes. 

Step 6: Repeat the process for each chevron.

Now I realized halfway through that you need to cover the already melted crayons in newspaper or something because the other colors will sometimes mix together. 

What I did was cut a big piece of newspaper and tape it onto the canvas to hide the finished part of the project. But in order to let the top parts drip correctly, you need the full "V" so I taped the big square at the trough (or lowest point) of each zig zag and then took smaller pieces and taped them on the peaks (or highest parts) in order to cover everything but also leave the full shape.

This is why I had you make two of the same chevron patters- to stop the crayons from dripping down.

Okay, this WAS my final product before I cheated and fixed my project up a little.

To fix my mistakes I first took out a butter knife and tried to chip away at some of the dried crayons to make it look better. Then, after not much was changing, I took out some white paint and began painting over my mistakes. 

This worked surprisingly well, just make sure to paint a layer...then wait...and then paint another layer. You definitely need multiple layers and if you're impatient like me, you need to remind yourself to wait and let the first coat dry before painting on another coat.

Here's my final product (again). You can play around with which side is up, and which side is down. I ended up liking my project better when it was upside down.

Well, if you try out this project, let me know in the comments how it goes or if you have any questions! 

Happy crafting,

-Micayla