A blast of color for the summer!

Even with all of their simplistically, melted crayon art is beautiful and full of eye catching colors. With summer comes the tie dye craze, and this is a simple way to wear popping colors that celebrate the joy and beauty of the season. The supplies are simple and easy to find, so let's go party!

Pattern for Jewelry.pdf
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Supplies

1. A workspace you don't care about (a big piece of paper is good)

2. Crayons! I would use Crayola for best results

3. A hair dryer or heat gun (I'm using a hair dryer)

4. A rough, canvas-type material (I am using denim)

5. Plastic fork or spoon, or a wooden dowel

6. Tape (optional, not shown)

7.Pattern (optional, I have included a downloadable pattern)

8. Scissors

9. Something to punch a hole in your material (I am using a hole punch)

10. Varnish (I am using Varathane Floor Polyurethane in Gloss)

10. Brush to apply the varnish

11. Jump rings

12.Earring Hooks

Step 1: Melting Crayons

First of all, the wrappers have to be removed from the crayons. Pick your favorite colors, all colors, whatever suits you.

Break the crayons into smaller pieces. Lay them on the material in whatever color order you wish, or totally random is fine, too! Keep the pieces near each other, but not touching.

Honestly, I probably should have had them farther apart from each other than this, but it worked out.

*If you want to, you can tape down larger pieces of crayons to keep them in place. I did not.

With the hair dryer turned up to the hottest, blow the hot air near the crayon pile. Don't blow directly on it just yet. If you do, the crayons will run away! If some do try to blow away, use the plastic spoon to guide them back.

As the crayons start to melt, they will start to glisten and shine like they are wet. Once little puddles have started to form around the pieces, you can move the hair dryer nearer or over top of the crayons. The colors will start to spread. Be careful that you don't cause the colors to splatter everywhere by getting too close or by going too fast (this is why we have a workspace we don't care about).

Once all the crayons are melted (or you just decide it looks good enough) turn off the blow dryer.

Step 2: Scraping Off the Excess

When the crayons have cooled (about two minutes time), take the plastic spoon and scrape off the excess wax from the material. You will be left with colors on the material. Junk the extra wax (it will look yucky and nobody would ever want to try to color with it).

In between scrapes, clean your spoon off so that you don't muddy the colors.

Step 3: Finishing Up

Using the pattern (or whatever guide you want), cut out shapes from the colored material. Look for the pieces that you like the best and cut those out for your earrings.

Once cut out, punch a hole near the top with the hole punch. This is where the earring hook will go.

With the brush, paint on the varnish of your choice. (You could also probably use spray varnish).

Once the varnish is dry, insert a jump ring into the hole in the earring material.

*Open jump rings by twisting sideways with your pliers, not by wrenching them open. This helps them keep their rounded shape. To close, twist back to the original position.

Attach to an earring hook by opening the hook the same way you opened your jump ring.