"Melting" Crayons

The newly released, kelp-inspired mask featured today is 6" x 6" Bulbs and Banners s955, which looks like this when it arrives in its white envelope -- 

But today's project began with sturdy beige cardstock that I'd previously printed with an 8-inch round Gelli Plate using my 6" x 6" Penguin Family s393 and purple acrylic paint....

Because the cardstock was the sturdy variety, I felt safe to move forward with an art experiment that would involve water!

Above: Tabs of blue masking tape held my 6" x 6" Bulbs and Banners s955 in place while I used water-soluble crayons to fill in open areas of this kelp-inspired design. (There's a wide variety of water-soluble crayons and each type has its own characteristics. My collection includes several types. I suggest experimenting with each type to find your favorites. What I've used here are Neocolor II.)

Below: Water-soluble crayon now fills every empty area of the design.

Above:  I've used a mister bottle (top center) to spray all the crayon with water -- carefully keeping the water to a minimum, since too much water floats the whole idea away! (Ask me how I know!)

There is of course no real "melting" taking place. But when water-soluble crayon meets water, the effect appears to resemble melting.  The colors ooze together and merge, as if they were areas of colored wax exposed to heat.

Below:  Taking a side-step in this adventure, I made a "sandwich" by placing printer paper atop the wet crayon and, beneath it, the mask and the original print of a penguin family.  I rolled a rubber brayer across the top paper to press it into the wet surface below.

When I lifted off the printer paper, I had a monoprint to the left of my main project; see below....

Left side:  A close-up of this monoprint is posted at the end of today's post.

Above:  I lifted off the kelp-inspired mask, Bulbs and Banners s955 , to let the wet crayon mixture continue drying.

I like what resulted on that sturdy cardstock I'd previously printed using Penguin Family s393.   The effect of the "melting" water-soluble crayons was to enrich, deepen and saturate the original image.

Below is a close-up of that monoprint on printer paper:

Thanks for checking out my blog today! To scroll thru the pages of my stencils and masks at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.  The topmost masks on the first webpage are my three new designs:  

9" x 12" Kelp Forest L963...

6" x 6" Bulbs and Banners s955 ...

and 4" x 4" Seabed Greens M339