Melted crayon art can be a really fun way to upcycle old and broken crayons. I suggest playing around with techniques before attempting your final piece. Check out this tutorial for some inspiration for how to turn your practice piece into a conversation piece. It takes a little while to get used to. In general, darker colors melt faster and lighter colors melt fairly slow. (Yellow is annoyingly slow.)

In this tutorial, I’ll specifically demonstrate how to decorate a picture frame using crayons, but the techniques will be the same for most projects. You can also check out this tutorial which will show the more traditional use of wall art using melted crayons.

 

 

Supplies:

  • Crayons (for this one I only used blue crayons)- glitter crayons add a fun twist
  • Hot glue gun and glue
  • Hairdryer
  • Masking tape
  • Scissors
  • Clips (clothespins or chip clips)
  • A strip of thick cardboard
  • Tons of newspaper
  • Frame (I used the cardboard frame I used in this tutorial)

 

1. This is very important! Cover your work space with lots of newspaper. Be sure there is an outlet nearby. You should cover any wall space around your work space as well. Tape the newspapers together and layer them as much as possible. The hairdryer will blow them everywhere so secure them where you can.

 

2. Cut your cardboard so that it is a little longer than the longest side of your frame.

 

3. Hot glue each crayon to the strip of cardboard, ensuring that you leave a space on each end for the clip to attach to. The crayons can be wrapped or unwrapped. I found that it is easier to control the drips when the crayons are wrapped.

 

4. Clip the line of crayons to the edge of your frame. You can put a piece of scrap paper in the frame to prevent the sides from adhering to the back. (See end of tutorial for a bonus craft using this scrap paper.)

 

5. Turn on the hair dryer and begin to heat the crayons. You can do one section at a time. It will take a while for the crayons to heat up.

 

6. Continue to heat and play around with how the crayons drip and splatter. Once they heat up, they will start dripping rather quickly. Note: as you heat them up, some of the crayons may fall from the strip. You can glue them back on or break them into chunks to use later. (See alternative techniques below.)

 

There are tons of variations for the craft. Here are some other ways to add some color to your frame.

 

If you have big chucks on crayon left over, you can set them on the frame and melt them with the hairdryer. Note that they may blow around a bit so it is best to melt them a little first, then press them onto the frame.
Hold the line of crayons over certain areas and melt with the hairdryer. This will give you a little more control over where the drops land.
Smudge semi-melted crayon bits onto the frame for pops of color or color with them, then go over it with the hair dryer to spread it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Continue until you are content with your creation.

 

8. Remove the scrap paper and admire your handiwork.

 

9. Insert the picture paper into your frame.

 

If you already had hanging equipment on the back of your frame (Command strips, nail hole, wire), you can just cut a hole in the paper so that it is still accessible.
If you are planning to hang your frame on the wall, note that if there is color on the back or edges, it might rub off onto the wall. To fix this, you can add a protective finish or a layer of Modge Podge. Another solution is to attach a piece of paper to the back of the frame to act as a barrier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BONUS CRAFT:

 

If you used a piece of scrap paper inside of your frame while you melted your crayons, you may have noticed that you have a cool creation left over.

 

You can easily use this for decorative labels. All you have to do is carefully cut out sections (some areas may crack) and use it to label craft supplies or scrapbook pages.

 

 

All I did for mine was cut off a section, write a label on another piece of paper, tape it on, then attach the whole thing with packing tape.