Tristina Dietz Elmes

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Thinking Outside the Crayon Box

Tristina Dietz Elmes

It makes me giggle like I was a little kid again to play with adult crayons! I love how innovative art companies have created fun supplies for us grown-ups to scribble and experiment with.

Adult Art Crayons For Mixed Media

One of these fab art supplies is the Marabu Mixed Media Art Crayons. You may also be familiar with the Faber-Castell Gelatos or KingArt Gel Sticks, which are similar creamy water-soluble color sticks.

What Are Some Ways To Use Art Crayons?

Some of the regular ways to use gel art crayons are:

  • apply art crayons like an oil pastel in creamy layers, blending in between layers, and scrape back into the layers for fun textured effects,

  • scribble in a direct-to-paper technique, then apply water on a brush to blend one or more colors directly on the surface,

  • or use the indirect painting style of applying one or more colors to a palette and picking the color up with a wet paint brush to apply to the surface.

A Unique Way to Use Art Crayons

Now, here’s a unique way to use the Marabu Art Crayons… Since they have a flat creamy crayon end, they can be used to swipe over the raised areas of a deep rubber stamp!

I suggest you mist the rubber stamp lightly with water before applying the crayon to help the paint easily glide off the end.

Try using a gentle circular motion with the art crayon to deposit the paint on all the stamp ridges.

If any pieces of crayon come off the tip onto the stamp, you may be using too much pressure. Just lighten your downward pressure and pick up any chunks on the stamp with a damp paper towel.

A Fun Way to Stamp With Art Crayons

Now comes the fun part. Be sure the stamp raised areas are damp before printing.

This is one of those Goldilocks moments where you don’t want the stamp surface to be too wet or too dry, but just right! Knowing just the right moisture level can take some practice.

Flip the stamp block over and apply pressure to the back to transfer the stamp image to paper.

As an alternative to turning the stamp over and pressing to transfer the stamped image to paper, I like using tissue or deli paper to lay on top of the paint filled rubber stamp, then either use my fingers or a brayer roller to press onto the stamp.

You will find this method also gives you a bit of an impression or embossed image on the thin paper as well, which I see as a bonus feature of using this technique. 🙂

Depending on the shapes on your rubber stamp, consider applying more than one color of crayon on the stamp design at the same time.

Paint Around The Stamped Images

After stamping onto papers, I find it helpful to use the indirect painting method to fill in the areas around the stamped images.

Simply use one or more art crayons to deposit some color onto a palette (I like using disposable palette paper), swirl the color around with a wet brush and then paint the color onto the paper. To deepen the painted color, just go over the areas on the paper more times.

Easy Clean Up With Water

When you’re finished stamping or if you want to change colors, simply use an old wet toothbrush to gently scrub away the crayon paint and dry with a paper towel.

Here are some links to supplies for this project you may be interested in. As an Amazon Associate I earn from your qualifying purchases.

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If you would like to see other paints, mediums and art supplies that I recommend, click below to go to the Supply Links page on my website:
https://www.dietzart.gallery/supply-links

Spray Dry Papers With Fixative

After painting and stamping with Marabu Art Crayons, it is helpful to FIX the dry surface before using any other water-based paints or glues with these papers. There are several fixatives I like to use. As an Amazon Associate I earn from your qualifying purchases.

I generally spray 2 - 3 layers of fixative with about 15 minutes between each layer.

Note the aerosol cans need to be used outside because they smell strong. The non aerosol bottle can be used inside your studio because it is non-toxic and odor free.

Using Painted Papers In Collage

After the art crayon paints are fully dry and fixed onto the paper surface, they are ready to be added to your favorite journal or artwork using collage techniques.

An excellent archival “glue” to use for collage is acrylic Gel Medium. Gel medium is simply acrylic paint with no pigment colors added. The wet medium appears white, but will dry clear.

Here are my favorite gel mediums for attaching collage papers. As an Amazon Associate I earn from your qualifying purchases.

Most of the time I use the matte medium for collage. I only use the gloss medium when I am collaging over a shiny or shimmery surface, for instance over gold or silver, in order to assure the shiny accents are able to be seen through the transparent gloss medium when it is dry.

I’d love to know in the comments if you have used adult art crayons, gelatos or gel sticks, the types of projects you tried with them, and your thoughts about whether you liked them . Also, I invite your questions in the comments!

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