Notebook

Notebook, 1993-

MATERIALS & METHODS

Drawing - Crayons

Crayon Encaustics
Teacher may find that he is accumulating many small, variously colored pieces of crayon. Teacher may drop bits of each color into the six or eight depressions of an old muffin tin, keeping all the reds in one, all the blues in another, all the greens in a third, and so on. Melt these over a hotplate covered with a cookie sheet, which will prevent drippings from soiling the plate by falling into the coils and causing smoke or flame. While these crayons are in a liquid form, they can be used in the same way as oil paints. Stiff-bristle brushes are far superior to hair brushes for this process. The wax cools and dries very rapidly when it is removed from the muffin tin, so that children must learn to work very fast and with little attention to detail. Because of the speed with which they are made, the pictures are brilliant and fresh and display techniques not seen in any other medium. Because it requires a certain speed and dexterity, this is a project that works best in the junior and senior high schools.

After the paintings are covered, students can conduct experiments by adding additional heat to the painting with a small alcohol torch, thus causing further fusing of color. This type of painting can be done on practically any surface. Old posters or pieces of cardboard, scraps of masonite, and cardboard boxes are all good surfaces on which to work. Students can give the completed paintings done with this hot wax method additional interest by using some of the scratch methods described for the crayon sgraffito process, and then buffing.

[Mattil, Edward L. [Chairman, Dept. of Art, North Texas State University ]. Meaning in Crafts, Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1971.]










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