Spring by Laura West Kong
A quilt for Earth Day! Spring was made using the Waxmelter Batik Pen, a fun and green way to use up broken crayon bits. (You wouldn’t want those broken crayons to go to waste, now would you?)
Broken crayons go in the top …
(This is the Waxmelter Batik Pen)
…melted wax comes out the bottom.
(The art comes from YOU!)
Color inside the wax-outlined shapes with thin, flowing paints such as watered-down acrylics, silk fabric paint, etc. or dip it into some cold-water fabric dye. The crayon wax acts like a resist to keep the paint where it belongs.
After the fabric dries you can remove the wax by ironing the fabric between sheets of newsprint or paper towels. The heat of the iron melts the wax and the paper soaks it up. The colored lines stay behind! Or if you’re not going to wash it, you can leave the wax right where it is. The wax lines give a neat dimensional element for an art quilt. You can melt regular batik wax, too. I’ve also decorated Easter eggs with my batik pen. Find out more about the Waxmelter Batik Pen and other wax melting tools at the Wax Melting Tools by Twisteez Wire website.
About Crayons
You probably don’t want to use those free restaurant crayons in your batik pen. Some of them got mixed up in my broken crayon box. See the difference below:
Notice the blue and green lines on the left. See the clear areas in the lines and lack of complete color coverage? That because cheap crayons don’t have as much pigment as better quality crayons do. Good crayons have more pigment and will give you bright, clear colors on paper as well as on fabric. The batik pen is easier to use with good crayons too. Sometimes the cheap crayon wax is really thin when melted and can flood out of the tip. The red and blue lines on the right probably didn’t come from children’s menu crayons. If I were to remove the wax off the samples above, the one on the left would certainly leave a greasy stain behind.
If you want some really fabulous crayons, try Prang Soy Crayons. The paraffin wax in regular crayons comes from petroleum, these are made from soy. They’re environmentally friendly, that’s why I’m telling you about them on Earth Day. But that’s not why I LOVE them … I love them because they are smooth, rich, and vibrant. They’re creamy and blend-able without a waxy buildup. I use mine for those cute vintage-y picture quilts that are hand embroidered with a stem stitch and then colored in the lines with crayons.
My Crayon Kitty. I should really finish up the rest of these blocks. Maybe I’ll make that my Earth Day project!
Share your comments or Earth Day projects!
More Eco-Posts!
Tip Tuesday: Give Blood … Get Thimbles
Muse Monday: Quilt A Memory
Bottle Cap Pincushion
Quilt Green 2009
Quilt-Cycle
Just when you finally set your fabrics down to go mop the floors, along comes a cleaner that tempts you back to the studio … not to work, but to play.
The side borders are a case of measure twice but cut some random too-short length that has nothing whatsoever to do with what I measured at all. Don’t you love it when mistakes make things turn out better than they would have been otherwise?
Now add more water to the paint to make a thinner consistency and cover the entire piece of fabric with a thin coat of paint. You can leave a few scattered sections of fabric unpainted if you wish.
Add in some more thicker areas of paint.
Use a stencil to add some bling. I used Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic in Iridescent Rich Gold. I’m stenciling right on the already wet/damp fabric. This will make the pattern slightly less distinct, but more interesting. The water also holds the stencil in place so it makes things easier in that respect: you don’t have to worry about the stencil shifting. Place it straight down, dab the paint into the holes, and lift it straight up again. Repeat as desired.
