Crayon Encaustic

Encaustic is a wax based paint, applied while hot.  Our never ending crayon supply donated from various families needed to go, so I thought Crayon Encaustic would be a neat adventure.  This is the blog entry that goes from "Hmm, that's interesting" to "Oh My Goodness, this is an atrocity!"

With an overflowing crayon collection, this Crayon Encaustic for Kids tutorial surfaced in my Google searches.  Candle burning is NOT ALLOWED in my library, so I considered another method.  Lo-temp hot glue guns were suggested in other tutorials, so I decided to venture down that path, hoping along the way that no child get marred in the process.

Things started like this

The very small class of 4 girls helped me set up the space with drop cloths, extension cords and color stations.  We labeled each glue gun a different color to keep the color true through the gun.  We did not want muddy colored paintings.  It was quickly realized that imagery was not very reachable, the crayon just dripped from the gun.  It was further realized that the guns were terrible!  They leaked crayon from the seams and even shot hot wax crayon out unexpectedly.  I am lucky that mature students were present for this class.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PROCESS TO ANYONE!! (<if you've had luck with this process, please leave a comment--I'd love to hear your experience.)

Things were really just a series of colorful drips of wax.

Imagery might be achieved if we used a different method.  A few years ago, we used hair dryers and heat guns with more direct results, but not better imagery.  Perhaps we need a hot plate and lots of brushes like the pros.  Since I was using up old materials, I took the least expensive route.  Canvas panel boards (8x10") were sourced from Amazon.  Lo-Temp glue guns were sourced from Walmart.  This program cost about $60 with enough supplies to serve 24+ students.  Perhaps on another day (our class was on Good Friday) more students would have been present.  Perhaps more students would have experienced the frustration we did with this terrible art process.

Next month, join us for a lesson on Visual Thinking Strategies with Mieke Fay from Corning Museum of Glass.  Until then , please enjoy my Crayon Encaustic painting.

My own "Series of Dots"