Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Wax & Watercolor


I was going through a box recently and found this bookmark that I made from one of B's wax and watercolor drawings a long time ago. Maybe you already know about this technique, but if not it's a fun one:

Wax & Watercolor Resist
  1. Start with watercolor paper or a heavier art paper that is suitable for watercolors
  2. Draw on the paper with crayons
  3. Watercolor over the top of the crayons...the wax will resist the watercolor
These drawings are super colorful and make fun bookmarks, cards, etc. You can also sprinkle the wet watercolors with Kosher salt, let the paper fully dry, and then brush off the salt for another cool effect.

14 comments:

  1. LorieSeptember 16, 2008 at 8:57 PM

    I love the idea of making it into a bookmark! I now know what my next project with my daughter will be!!

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  2. Mimi SueSeptember 16, 2008 at 9:43 PM

    A couple of years ago I took a watercolor painting class. We did both of those techniques and it was so fun. I never thought of bookmarks or cards. Great idea. Mimi

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  3. Tina @ Squirrel AcornsSeptember 19, 2008 at 7:51 AM

    These would make awesome gifts for your child's friends at school at the holidays. Or stocking stuffers for family. There is probably an obvious answer to this question, but how do you laminate the bookmark? Is that something you can do at home, or do you have to go to an office supply store or what? I've always wondered that.

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  4. jessSeptember 19, 2008 at 8:48 AM

    Hi Tina...the bookmark above is actually in a plastic sleeve (if you Google for bookmark sleeves there are quite a few places that sell them online) but you could take it to an office supply store to laminate, or even laminate it with wide shipping tape.

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  5. Tina @ Squirrel AcornsSeptember 19, 2008 at 8:58 AM

    Wow, I did not even realize bookmark sleeves existed, LOL! What a great idea. I envision a whole new bookmark-y world opening up for me.

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  6. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2008 at 12:18 PM

    I bought a personal laminator (fairly inexpensive and easy to find). I use it on everything! I can't wait to try this technique on some luggage tags that I can then laminate. If you used clear wax, could you then scrape it off to reveal the paper color beneath? I might try it and see what happens.

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  7. Rachel@oneprettything.comSeptember 22, 2008 at 2:23 PM

    This is such a fantastic idea! I can't wait to try this with my niece and nephews. I'll be linking to this as well.

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  8. jessSeptember 24, 2008 at 1:39 PM

    Jo...sounds like a fun experiement!

    Rachel...thanks for the link!

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  9. Christina J.October 1, 2008 at 2:25 PM

    We are going to do this today after school!

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  10. Christina J.October 4, 2008 at 8:52 AM

    We made them and they were a lot of fun! I posted about them: http://thisgirlbeads.blogspot.com/

    :)

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  11. jessOctober 9, 2008 at 1:56 PM

    Christina...very cute! Thanks for the link!

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  12. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2010 at 4:40 PM

    Hi Jess,
    Does the heat lamination process melt the wax? I want to laminate some coloured (Australian English spelling!)beeswax crayon drawings, but am concerned that the heat may melt/blur the images.
    Thanks,
    Suzy in Oz

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  13. jessFebruary 3, 2010 at 7:51 PM

    Hi Suzy in Oz...thanks for your comment! I haven't tried heat laminating the wax and watercolor paper. The bookmark above is actually in a plastic sleeve. If you try it and it doesn't work you could laminate both sides with wide shipping tape.

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  14. MissJanuary 11, 2012 at 4:54 PM

    I did this activity with my Grade 1 art class- they really enjoyed it and they turned out great! Instead of wax crayons we used oil pastels. I laminated mine and ours didn't melt. You can see ours here: http://afaithfulattempt.blogspot.com/2011/01/wax-resist-bookmarks.html

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Thanks for your comments...love to read them!