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Crayons to Colorful Jewelry

by Monica Bardford | 11 years ago

Hello, my name is Monica Bradford and I’m so excited to be sharing with you today! Can you keep a secret? I’ve got a little thing for crayons. I’ll admit it…I have several crayon boxes in my scrapbook room that I won’t allow anyone to touch (not even my two boys).

In my class Crayons to Color Wheels I talk about how I use crayon boxes to inspire color palettes for your scrapbook pages. But today I want to share with you how you can turn those crayons into colorful jewelry!

You will need:

• A square bezel pendant (can be found at Hobby Lobby)
• A heat gun
• Scissors (I used Tim Holtz)
• Glossy Accents
• Craft mat or wax paper
• Assorted crayons

Start by choosing your colors. Try them out on a piece of paper first to verify how the color looks. Sometimes the wrapper can be misleading. I wanted to create an ombre effect so I needed to be sure that each color was darker than the previous one.

Begin by heating up the pendant just a bit. That allows you to push the crayon pieces into the pendant just a bit, and makes them less likely to blow out when you are heating them with the heat gun.

Begin cutting chunks of crayon and arranging them into your pendant.

You don’t have to fill every space in the pendant because as they melt the holes will fill. Larger chunks work better than small shavings because they are less likely to fly out during heating, although if they do fly out you can just push them back in.

Fill your pendant with pieces of crayon moving from light to dark.

Push the pieces into the slightly warm pendant. You may need to repeat this step as they slowly heat up and move around.

Hold the heat gun very steady and at least 12 inches above the pendant. You don’t want the wax to splatter around. As the crayons melt they will begin to swirl together. You can angle the heat gun in different directions if you want to push certain colors around the pendant. Is there a little too much dark blue? Point the gun from the top a bit and move some white toward the center. Or you can even cut more pieces of crayon to add in additional color.

If wax ends up on the edges of the pendant, or even on the back, use a paper towel to wipe off the excess. The wax is very forgiving while it’s still warm.

Your pendant is looking good! But it needs one more step to seal it up and make it ready to wear.

Grab some Glossy Accents to use as a topcoat and sealer.

Fill the bezel slowly to avoid bubbles. I typically start at the edges and work my way into the center.

If you do end up with a bubble or two you can use a straight pin to pop them. This needs to be done within the first few minutes before the Glossy Accents begins to set.

Allow the Glossy Accents a full 24 hrs to dry before wearing your necklace.

You will love your fun, unique crayon pendant!
Monica Bradford

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