Melted Crayon Art on Canvas

I have been looking for some artwork to hang in my daughter’s room but didn’t want to spend too much. I wanted something bright, colourful and personalised and thought I would try my luck with a melted crayon canvas.  

I have seen melted crayon art all over the internet and have wanted to try one for a long time now. I was never really game enough until today. I have been working up to it but decided it was finally time to try my luck and I am stoked with the result. It is pretty simple and effective but I would recommend not getting too fancy and trying to personalise it with a name through the middle of the canvas. That was nearly my undoing! For simplicity sake, I would just stick with straight forward melted crayons and not get too technical. (The finished product with the name and details does look fantastic if you’re willing to go to the extra effort).

This is an art project for the parents however you can get your children to help along the way – if you have the patience. My daughter Gemma was stoked with the end result and this canvas is going to look amazing hanging on the wall in her room! All for a total cost of $20.

What you need:

• Canvas (any size you like)
• Crayons (enough to fit across the top of the canvas) I used 5 packets @ $1.50 each
• Hot glue gun
• Hair dryer
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Old newspaper

1. Start by lining up the crayons across the top of the canvas to make sure you have enough to cover one end to the other. I used 5 packets (@$1.50 each) and picked out the vibrant colours to give me the best result. I only had brown, black and khaki green left in the packets. I grouped the crayons so I had 5 of each colour together.

2. Once you are happy with your colour layout, you can start hot gluing them onto the top of the canvas. Take care to line them up evenly but you need to work quickly as the hot glue dries very fast. Glue them in batches of approx. 5 crayons at a time so you have time to press them into the glue before it dries.

3. This is where I complicated the canvas by personalising it by adding my daughter’s name. I used masking tape to write her name in the middle of the canvas but I didn’t think about how the melted crayons would set over the top of the masking tape and I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I would avoid this step altogether if you were going to attempt this yourself and keep it simple.

I also drew a silhouette of a little girl in the corner with an umbrella and tried to have the wax spilling over the top of the umbrella. I can’t help myself – more complications!!

4. Once you are ready to start melting, tape some old newspaper against a wall to cover some of the wall and floor. This will catch any excess drips or splatters and makes it very simple to clean up afterward.

5. Lean the canvas on an angle against the wall and start the blow drying.   I initially had the dryer on a low setting as I didn’t want wax to splash everywhere but it was taking too long. I am not very patient so I increased it to high heat and the wax started to melt a lot quicker. See how you go and adjust the speed as necessary. It is a slow process and you need to take your time. You can also do it in batches so you can put it down at any stage and just come back to it. It is hard to do this as once you get on a roll, you will want to keep on going.

I was worried when the first crayons started to melt as I didn’t think it was working like it should and the colours were really light. Stick with it and soon it will all start to happen.

6. Once I had finished the melting, I contemplated peeling of the masking tape. Since the tape was totally covered, I thought about just leaving it there but curiosity got the better of me and I started peeling. It was a bit of a mess but in the end I used some white paint to touch it up.

7. Hang your canvas and admire your work!

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