Crayon wax/oil separation

I absolutely luv this LO that The Bling Princess posted back in January. I'd like to create the same background but rather than using watercolours, I thought I'd try crayons (goodness knows we have enough of them in my household). Has anyone had any success in breaking down the wax from the oil and colour. When I try to run the crayon down my paper using my heat gun, the oil and wax separates from the colour, but looks well... 'oily'. Any suggestions? TIA
You Are My Eternal Rainbow By Theblingprincess

Wow, what a beautiful layout!

I have not yet done this for scrapbooking, however I've done an art project very similar to this: http://www.52kitchenadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Melted-crayon-rainbow.jpg

I recommend you set your crayons up like in this picture on a LARGE piece of thick cardboard you don't mind getting messy, and temporarily taping the cardstock on top of the cardboard and below the crayons.

You have to use cardboard or a thick stand, because you have to stand this up on it's edge. You can't lay it flat when you melt the crayons!

Tilt it upward and against a wall or something, put newspaper below as to keep your floor clean. Then use a hair dryer and aim at the mid-bottom of the crayons. It takes several minutes to melt down.

The key for this project is to heat the crayons in between the middle and bottom, not at the top.

After you cover your cardstock and it looks the way you want, let it dry, then remove it from the cardboard and waalaa!

I'm not sure how a heat gun works, but I KNOW a hairdryer works for this. Nothing should separate, it should work just as expected.

Hi Alyssa, thanks for your input. I've used the same methodology you prescribed. Afterwards, I've gone ahead and ironed the 12x12 using paper towel to flatten the wax, and I like the texture this process adds, but this is where I run into the problem of the total wax/oil separation issue. The heat from the iron further separates the crayon wax. I made a couple of 12x12's a few weeks ago and thought I could live with the look and went ahead and varnished them using Liquitex Gloss Varnish. Here's what's happening up close and I'm not sure if there's a way to get around what's happening. If you can see the oily film around the edges, that's what I'm referring to. I took the pic holding it up to the sunlight.

And your project is exactly what I'm referring to doing myself. One of my kids b-days was a rainbow theme, made her a rainbow cake and wanted to use this idea as the primary background paper.

I do love the texture the paper towel adds. How cool!

I do see the film around the edges. I've never seen that before, but, it might have something to do with the temperature you're heating the crayons at? Have you tried using a lower heat setting? I always used a medium setting on my hair dryer (fairly warm, but not too hot).

It's happening after I use the heat gun when I iron them. I'll try your suggestion tonight and set my iron lower. Thanks so much - keep a smile M.

Anytime :o) Good luck! I can't wait to see the finished project

What brand crayons are you using? That may also have an effect. Crayola uses a special paraffin wax made just for their company. Other crayon companies use blends of waxes or lower grade wax.

Hi Lori, I thought about that too... my original 12x12's were created using 'Hands on Fun' crayons made for Oriental Trading. The crayon I used in the image that I posted was a Crayola. So there does not seem to be a difference between the two.

I did a little bit more experimenting this afternoon and rather than running the crayon onto the paper, I used a little microwave safe bowl and melted the crayon into it using my heat gun. I found that the heat from the gun started burning off the wax (this is a good thing) then I was able to run the colour directly onto the paper, there is so little wax left that I probably don't even have to iron it to get it flat, but I may still try just for the stippled effect.

The smell from burning off the wax became intolerable in the house, so I'm going to try it again tomorrow outside. If it works I'll post the results. Keep a smile M.

I'm wondering if you're just heating it up too much? Is your goal to have no wax left? If not, I'd use just a hair dryer.

When I was a kid, in school we did an art project with dripped wax. OK, it was a LONG TIME ago. So the wax and chemicals in crayon is most likely different now.

We used a candle and as it was melting let it drip on to the paper to make a design. It would run a little but I don't remember it running that much. I just don't see it running the way watercolor does. It would harden pretty fast......but this gives me an idea for doing spatter work. Might just get some crayon and try it. I don't have kids so I don't have any in the house.

I have a 12x6x8 box of them, I'll send you some And, if you hold your paper up at a 90 degree angle it free flows - take a look at freeyourfears art project - too much fun

So in the continuing saga of the 'crayon melt'...

Diva Scraps - Either I want to get the crayon hot enough that most of the wax is removed and I'm just left with the vibrant colour or that it's hot enough that it will run down the page so fast that it leaves very little wax so that the page doesn't become too bulky.

I am using a Black & Decker 500 degree heat gun. I melted the crayon in the microwave safe bowl out in the garage with the door wide open. I heated it for about a minute and a half on the highest speed/heat available. The wax did smoke significantly.

I brought the bowl back in the house and ran the crayon down my cardstock. There's still is so much wax left in it that the iron just makes it bleed. However, it was so hot, that it ran down the page quickly and it's thin enough to use as a background.

The crease I added was with a bone folder. I wanted to know how badly it would crack if the page was subjected to man-handling by my kiddos

I'm happy with the results of the run without using the iron, but I would have loved the 'stippled' effect. So, I'm off to make my pages.

By the time you're done playing, you'll have cleaned out some of your crayon supply! Glad you found pretty much what you wanted...looks good. I'd wondered about the cracking, but I probably wouldn't have thought to try it out.

(I saw you live in Castle Rock. I was born and raised in Denver. Actually most of my "raisin'" was in Arvada—NW suburb of Denver. Moved to San Diego in '78.)

Good afternoon MrsDriver5. I'll post the final results when I'm done. And, if you're ever in the area, pm me and we'll go for a coffee - keep a smile M.

Glad to see you're making progress! Can't wait to see the LO!!

Good morning! I posted the Crayon LO this am. Keep a smile M.

Here are the links:

http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/image/layout/ 3540691.h...

http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/image/layout/ 3540689.h...

I checked out your lo's. Great job!