Crayons are not just for kids!

I just found Miriam Joy and her gourd art. Wow! It is amazing.  I have hundreds of small egg shaped gourds from my 2013 garden just waiting for inspiration. This is it!

In a tutorial on her web site, Miriam shows how to wax gourds with melted crayons, using a twice melted approach. After she paints the gourds with various colors of melted crayon wax (which dries very quickly,) she uses a heat gun to melt them again, causing the wax to run down the gourd making interesting patterns. While the wax is wet she adds glitter and hits it again with the heat gun making it look kind of like a glass ornament.She has a wonderful  YouTube video on her web site, so I won’t attempt to explain the technique in detail. But feel free to ask me questions in the comments below.

My favorite.

I really like these! It was a messy project but oh so much fun!! 

I have only one wax melting pot, not enough for this project, so I improvised by melting the crayons in small plastic containers in a studio dedicated electric skillet on low heat. That didn't work very well as it was difficult to keep the temperature at a consistent low point and the plastic was too light which made the containers tip over easily. Wax melting pots are in the $30 each range and one is needed for each color that is used. I am not inclined to make this kind of investment and wonder if any of you have suggestions on an alternative way to melt the crayons. Baby food still come in those small jars?

Instead of the neat little hangers (that are available on her web site) I used small screw eyes. They don’t look as sharp but it works okay for me. The gourd walls are kind of thin and can’t hold the screws, but E6000 came to the rescue.

I used Ranger Glossy Accents instead of the 3D Crystal Lacquer for the finish and it worked just fine.The main thing is the crayon wax needs to have a final hard coat.   

So am I still on track for avoiding the Christmas crowd at the mall? You bet I am! Tomorrow I am shopping at the Paducah School of Art andDesign student art show. They usually have some really neat art at very reasonable prices. Last year I bought this painting; I think I paid about $35.