That tired old box of crayons that looks like it’s seen better days? It’s got more potential than you think. Those paper-wrapped waxy sticks can do a lot more than just color between the lines. They are exactly what you need to create a set of budget friendly wall art that looks like designer decor.
Whether you have remnants of a humble 16 pack or the coveted box of 120 with the built-in sharpener in the back–give those broken and worn down colors a new purpose in life by turning them into gorgeous, DIY wall art!
This marbled melted crayon art is the answer to a bevy of wall art dilemmas– What’s an easy way to get original contemporary wall decor without spending your life savings? How can you make art that is on trend and easy to change on a whim? How can you create more space in your junk drawer while simultaneously proving to the world that you really are artistically gifted after all?
And the answer is—crayons. You can do it all with melted crayons.
There are SO many different color combinations that you can try.
Mix red violet, pink, peach, red, and other berry colored hues to create a composition that looks like a scrumptious raspberry dessert.
Mix indigo, white, blue green and other colors in the aqua and teal family to create swirling tropical sea abstract art.
It’s so fun melting and mixing colors that it’s hard to quit. And after you’ve complete a couple of masterpieces, you may find yourself looking around and asking, “What else can I cover with all this amazing melted crayon wax?”
It happened to me. After creating three boards, I became sort of an addict. And that’s how I ended up using melted crayons colors to cover some clay leaves that were part of this post on DIY leaf wall art.
I used the same technique to make a set of larger leaves to frame as fall wall decor (below). You can find that project tutorial here.
The possibilities are endless.
Keep reading to find full step-by-step instructions on how to create all of these projects, including easy-to-make frames like the ones above for displaying your art.
This may be the easiest and most fun art you’ve ever made!
gather these supplies:
- old crayons (Crayola brand works best)
- wood panels (or if you have a saw–get a 1×8 board from a home improvement store like Lowe’s or Home Depot, and cut into a whole set of wood squares)
- empty cans
- old paint brushes
- aluminum foil
- kitchen torch or heat gun
- electric warming tray or electric griddle (or other warm surface to melt crayons)
STEP 1: Organize your work space
This project can be an indoor or an outdoor activity. If you decide to work outdoors, just make sure that you have access to a power outlet so that you can plug in a warming tray, electric griddle or other warm surface to melt the crayons.
Start by peeling the paper labels off of the crayons. Then decide which crayons will go into which cans. You can keep all the colors separated by putting only the same color crayons in each can (like all blues together, all violets together, etc.) or you can mix different colors (like combining reds and yellows in the same can to create an orange mix when melted). Breaking the crayons into smaller pieces will help them to melt faster.
Next, use aluminum foil to cover your main work area as well as your warming tray or griddle. The layer of foil will protect surfaces from accidental wax drips, and will make cleaning up easy.
Place a wood panel or board in the center of your foil-covered work area.
Then, place the crayon-filled cans onto the foil covered warming tray or griddle, and turn it on.
The wax will start to slowly soften and melt as the tray heats up. You may need to experiment with the settings on your particular appliance in order to find the right temperature to effectively melt the crayons. Start on low, and raise the temperature if needed. To speed up the melting process, you can use a heat gun or culinary torch and move it quickly over the cans a few times.
STEP 2: Apply the melted crayon wax
When all of the crayons are in liquid form, you’re good to go. Dip your brush into a melted color and dab it onto the wood panel. The wax will solidify pretty quickly on the wood, so you may only get a small section painted at a time.
Keep applying the melted crayons, using whichever colors you like, until you have covered the board. You can use a different brush to apply each color, or use the same brush for everything. After a while, the brush may begin to get a little overloaded with wax. You can “clean” the bristles by placing them against the foil covered warm surface of the tray or griddle to melt off some of the excess crayon build up.
One tip that will keep the wax from drying on the board so fast is to gently heat the board by warming it with a hair dryer set on high. You can also carefully use either a heat gun or torch to warm the board. With the surface warmed, the wax won’t cool and solidify as quickly, and the brush will spread it more easily.
Don’t be disheartened if, at this point, your art looks rough, blotchy, uneven and badly blended. That’s exactly how it should look. At this stage, you’re basically wanting to just get the colors on the board. In Step 3, you’ll blend and swirl everything together.
Also–if you are planning a design that will include white, I found that it is much easier to paint all of the dark colors on first, and then add white during Step 3. When I added white too early, it just sank to the bottom and got lost when torched; all of the other colors swarmed over it and dominated it.
For the sides of the board–either cover them with wax just like the top, or leave them bare and accent them later with metallic paint.
STEP 3: Blend the colors with heat
For melting and blending your abstract crayon wall art, you can use an inexpensive kitchen/culinary torch or you can work with a heat gun like the kind used for crafts & embossing. I tried both, and either one will give you great results. In the photos below, I used a torch and kept the flame turned down to its lowest setting, so basically I had just high heat being emitted and not a flame.
Begin by moving the torch over the surface, keeping it several inches away, and avoid concentrating the heat on any one spot for too long. As heat is applied, the wax will begin to move, swirl, and blend in some beautiful marbling.
You can lift, tilt, and rotate your wood panel in different directions to get the colors to run and blend even more. The best way to do this is by making a little foil “tray”—then lift or turn the foil corners to raise and rotate your art. That works way better than trying to touch the actual art itself with all that hot melted wax.
After doing some initial melting of the darker colors, you can now add white into the design, if white is part of your color scheme. Brush it on, or even pour & drip it onto your design.
Then use the torch to start blending. As the white collides with the other darker hues, some interesting things begin to happen. The pigments will mix and begin to create some beautiful swirls and marble patterns.
Keep moving the torch over the surface and rotating & lifting the art to swirl the wax until you’re happy with how it looks. You can drip or brush on additional melted crayons if you feel like any part of the design needs to be adjusted.
step 4: finish the sides
If you applied melted crayons to the side of your board, use the torch to blend those sections too.
Another option is to leave the sides free of colored wax, and instead use a metallic paint product to finish the edges. Just about any good quality metallic paint will work, but if you’ve never tried Deco Art’s Metallic Lustre, this is a great opportunity! It comes in a little round container like shoe polish. It is basically a metallic wax, which makes it perfect for accenting a piece of art created with wax. I always use a soft cloth or scrap of old T-shirt to apply it. Just wipe it on, let it dry (it dries very fast) and then buff until it shines. I used the Champagne Ice color for the sides below.
Before applying the metallic wax, I cleaned up the sides of the art and scraped away a few places where the wax dripped over the edge. I also brushed some white paint onto the sides of the board before applying the Champagne Ice wax polish. Since the Metallic Lustre wax is semi-opaque, adding a quick coat of white paint will ensure that you get flawless coverage.
STEP 5: Finishing touches for your wall art
Adding a frame will take your DIY abstract art from just melted crayons on a board to a stunning, contemporary piece of wall decor. Here’s how to create an easy display–
Use two birch wood panels like the ones shown below, one smaller than the other. Turn the panels over so that they resemble trays and paint them white.
Then glue the smaller panel inside the larger one. If you’re wanting fast results, use a quick-set epoxy like Gorilla glue epoxy or JB Weld epoxy–both of these products have superior hold and dry in 5 minutes.
When your frame is dry, glue your gorgeous, original masterpiece to the center.
If you want to trade one melted design for another from time to time (to coordinate with seasons & holidays), use Command velcro strips for temporarily attaching your art to the center of the frame instead of permanently gluing it. When you are ready to switch to a new design, it’s easy to detach and substitute another piece of art without any damage.
And there you have it–abstract DIY wall art that will rival anything you can find in a home decor store, and at a fraction of the cost.
And no one would ever guess it’s made from melted crayons!
step 5: get creative with other objects
There are so many possibilities when it comes to using melted crayons to create your own DIY abstract & contemporary wall art.
After making the boards above, I decided to see how melted crayons would work for covering some air dry clay leaves from this post. I love how each leaf turned out with rich colors and swirling marbled patterns.
Melt crayons with different autumn colors. Apply melted wax colors to each leaf.
Then use a torch or heat gun to blend and create marbling.
When the leaves are dry, glue them to a wood panel or gesso board. Or you can display them in other ways.
There are multitudes of other things you can cover with melted crayons–canvases, wood shapes, paper mache sculptures, and more. Turn your imagination loose on this project, and see what happens!
If you enjoyed this DIY art project, you might also enjoy this project showing how to use recycled plastic and metal cans to make eye-popping 3D modern wall art.
artUcreate is an Etsy, Michael’s, and Amazon Associates LLC affiliate.
