FOG Tuesday – Creating with Crayola™

I’ve said this before when discussing our FOG Tuesday activities, but it bears repeating, “Who knew that a group of women could have so much fun for an entire day...with a shiny new pack of Crayola™ crayons, some fabric, paper, heat guns, rubbing plates and more?” Well we were those women last Tuesday at FOG.

It started with a short show and tell of some things that Jan and I had tried before the session and ended the day with a myriad of brightly coloured and very creative pieces, some requiring some additional embellishments, and some nothing more.

Methods seemed to group into direct application of crayon to surfaces, or the application of the crayon to a surface that was then transferred to another surface.

Sandpaper Transfer

A technique that has been around for some time, though new to me, was to draw images onto sandpaper with the crayons and then heat transfer to another surface, in this case fabric. Donna did a great piece and I think that the sandpaper image is a keeper as well. It was interesting to note that in some of the samples we tried before the session we found that the wax residue in fabric crayons tended to melt into the surrounding fabric causing a ghosting image, while the Crayola™ crayons did not.

Wax Paper and Melted Crayons

Diane and I attempted another tried-and-true application and that was to grate/break crayons onto folded wax paper and melt with an iron. These created stained glass type pieces that I think will work well as the front to cards or perhaps journal pages.

Coloured Fusible Web 
and Crayon Rubbing

Jan came up with an idea to colour the sticky side of fusible webbing with the crayons. She then put that piece over a rubbing plate, rubbed an image onto the fabric and then fused it to a piece of fabric. Her rubbing plates were from Scholar's Choice™ though similar ones can be purchased from Cedar Canyon Textiles™. 

Shalinder did a piece based on this method and used punchinella to create some additional surface texture to her piece. The fabric she used had raised metallic motifs which added a lot to the overall effect.

This technique left the fabric with a nice hand which will make it great to use as a base for additional hand work, beading, embroidery etc.

Metallic Motif, Crayon Rubbing, Punchinella Design

Melted Wax and Mono-prints

Karen used her heat gun to melt crayons directly to some canvas and then pulled crayon mono-prints from the melted wax. 

I think that there will be more exploration of this technique by all of us.

Melting wax in a protective box.

Debbie utilized a box to melt broken crayons to a canvas and then stamped into the wax with a large red rubber stamp. Just a side note - if you are grating or breaking crayons to melt use a box to contain the bits as they are easily blown all over the place with your heat tool. (You can ask my sister if you don’t believe me.)

If you are interested in a fun craft to do with your kids (or adults) Crayola™ now has a new set of crayons called Crayola Meltdown Art Set™. Adult supervision required.

Sandpaper transfer and
Tsukineko™ Fabric Inks

Chris did a lovely fall themed piece using several painterly techniques, though the base piece started with a sandpaper transfer that you can just see below the surface.

We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but we had a great time colouring it!

Until next time...Meredith and Jan

FOG Tuesday Collage Exercise

As usual our day started with our collage exercise using supplies on hand and creating a small collage in 30 minutes.

This month the Design Principle was Rhythm and Movement.

Warm Up Collages
Design Principle - Rhythm and Movement

Use of this principle allows the viewers eye to move around your piece.

For example, the colours of a piece can convey rhythm by making your eyes travel from one coloured component to another.

Lines can produce rhythm by implying movement. For example lines may be wavy, rippled or straight.

When elements are repeated, or arranged in a pattern, rhythm and movement is created in the art piece.