Second Thursday Tutorial: more crayon ideas

Last month when I featured crayons for my Second Thursday tutorial, my friend Helen asked why I removed the protective covering from the crayons, or at least some of them.

Originally, I had intended to run them through my low melt heat gun, but realized I might never get it clean if I did.   That was when I decided to use a tealight candle to create drops or dots instead.

I also planned to use my electric pencil sharpener instead of hand items like cheese graters or paring knives to create shreddings, but realized I didn't want to mess with it, because it sits so high on my shelf.  I'm on my tip toes here, and that is why this photo is so fuzzy. 

Those are ideas some of you might want to try if you want to drip your crayons, or if you want shredded crayons.

However, this month I want to go a totally different route.  I'm beginning with turpenoid, which is a safe and scentless turpentine substitute.

It is not inexpensive, though.  This is not an efficient way to purchase it either, unless you don't think you'll use it for anything other than this one experiment.

Chris commented that she tried to determine what the image was that was left after the taped image came off and stuck to the inside of the Tuesday Morning package.  I agree that I would never have known what it was

if I hadn't inked it up.  It's supposed to be a picture of wine bottles, which I thought would be appropriate for our T Stands For Tuesday group.  Instead, it looks less like wine bottles to me and more like 2 liter bottles of soft drinks.  I decided to play with a tag I cut.  One thing I've learned is, you don't need a lot of cushion under your stamp to get a decent image, but you DO need something.  A sheet of paper (kitchen) towel folded in half works nicely.

Of course, because I'm sure you are better at this than I, you'll try to align the stamp in the center of the tag!

At least I got the entire image on the tag, but just barely.  I used Staz-on black because I needed something that would withstand the turpenoid.  In fact, I wasn't sure solvent ink (which Staz-on is) would hold up to this technique.

I first poured some turpenoid on part of the image, then let the yellow sit in it for a minute while the turpenoid dissolved the crayon.  I did the same with the blue crayon.  I've never owned any of those water soluble crayons, but I suspect they react in a similar way.  The turpenoid simply dissolves or melts the crayon.

Of course, I had trouble keeping the crayon inside the lines, because, as it dissolved, it migrated.

As I worked, I noticed how the turpenoid had spread around the tag.

I even wondered if once the turpenoid dried, it would leave an evident stain.

Several hours later I checked and all evidence of the turpenoid was gone.  I'm not sure this is an experiment many of you would care to repeat, because I'm sure most have water soluble crayons.  But I thought it might be a different way to use your excess crayons in a different way.  They certainly don't look or feel like crayons after you place them in turpenoid.

Once this goes live, I'll add it to my Tutorials page under "Who can resist crayons, too," although it's probably the weakest Second Thursday Tutorial I've created this year.  Of course, it's all about experimenting, and living with the results and consequences.  Sometimes the technique works and sometimes it's less than successful.  Regardless, I just appreciate you dropping by and spending time viewing, laughing, and learning from my mistakes or flubs.