Crayons anyone?

oh geeeeeeeeeez now my keyboard is all wet!!!!

I have tried the crayons and they work great if you press them nicely with papertowel and so far so good, not faded too badly from the washing.

I think I should try your way though, sounds like WAY more fun.... can I come to YOUR house though? Mine is uh.... too small of a place! yeah that's it, too small ....... LOL

~KK in BC~

"Polly Esther" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

LOL! Both kinds! The first method, mentioned above, has recently been refreshed into my surpressed memory as my grandchilren grow older. The latter method was some special fabric crayolas I bought to try out with my grand-daughter. She colored and I helped her write her name. I ironed it on a piece of fabric. I forgot to reverse the image.

I love coloring with crayons on fabric.

First, the cheaper crayons tend to be the best .... more was. But the sparkly kind are good t oo.

So just draw a design on your fabric. Any design. Something from a children's coloring book usually works really well. Then color with crayons a lot. Then cover the colored area with paper towels and press with a hot iron. Do this until no more wax comes up off the fabric and onto the iron. Your crayoned block will then be fine to wash.

Enjoy. Sunny

Terri (and anyone else with kids and crayons in their lives),

Try colouring a sheet of paper in bands of colour, and then cover the sheet in black crayon.

Now you can scrape of the black in a line drawing (use a pencil) and get the different colours showing through. Very magical.

I think this would leave too much crayon on the fabric to be useful for blocks though!

Hanne in London

I have used crayons to re-create the tinted look of the 1930's. First I trace the picture with water erasible marker then color the picture lightly. AFTER the marker is removed with water I cover both sides of the fabric with clean paper and iron to remove excess crayon and set the color. If there isn't enough color more can always be added but not taken away if you have used too much. I like the pastel look because I am aiming for the tinted look. Once I am happy with the coloring I outline everything and add details with a black permanent marking pen. Some may ask why I don't just draw the design with the black marker first. Doing that would require coloring inside the lines! By outlining last I can "redraw" if necessary.

I have used this technique with the nursing home ladies. Some can't use a needle anymore but felt they had contributed to the wallhanging by coloring. Some that couldn't remember what they had for lunch remembered coloring their Sunbonnet Sue.

Is this the type of coloring you were asking about or were you asking about creating designs on fabric rather than picture? I saw a demonstration of layering fabric over different textures and rubbing oil paint sticks over the fabric to creat designs. The same could be done with crayons. I was thinking of all that solid fabric stored on that bottom shelf that wouldn't fit in an Amish quilt. Why not give it a little textured coloring and use it as I would a tone on tone fabric?

When my mother comes next month I think we will have some coloring sessions. Mom remembers what she had for lunch and wants to know what we are having for dinner. Having her live with us two weeks a month has improved both our meal planning (can't say just go find something in the refrigerator to my mother) and my husband's help cleaning the table. When the children were little he was good to clear the dishes and help put away the food. Over the years he has forgotten about that help but then it doesn't take as long to through away the carry-out containers. With Mom here he is quick to jump up and help.

Susan

Sure, you can come to my house. The sewing room floor is so ugly I can't imagine that stomping crayon droppings on it will do any harm. Just let me know if there's something you'd like to have from the kitchen and keep your grubby hands out of there. Polly

I'm still with my first cup of coffee. The magazine instructions mentioned remembering to reverse the image and now Terri does. I'm not understanding why if I write 'Polly' that somehow it is going to reverse on me. Somebody help me? or please pour me just a little more coffee. Polly

"Terri" > LOL! Both kinds!

Maybe you draw on paper and then transfer by ironing (pressing) onto fabric - this would then work as an ordinary transfer, and you might get several copies (albeit in weaker colour)?

Just guessing - and remembering some very cute transfers on childhood bedding. Ah.

Hanne > I'm still with my first cup of coffee. The magazine instructions mentioned

Definitely more coffee needed here. The technique of covering bright colors with a layer of black and then scraping some off with something sharp was mentioned. It seemed to me that this could create a happy hairy look for fuzzy bees and caterpillars. What does Hanne mean about '> I think this would leave too much crayon on the fabric to be useful for

"Hanne Gottliebsen" wrote > Try colouring a sheet of paper in bands of colour, and then cover the

I'm thinking that when DH sees me ironing paper towels, he might think I had finally flipped. OTOH, at least I won't be spinning my support hose in the salad spinner. Quilters have a sense of how to have fun and we are not afraid to use it. Polly

"Sunny" I love coloring with crayons on fabric.

My how you bring back some memories, Susan. The favorite mealtime topic when my mother and youngest daughter were together eating was 'what's for the next meal'. It is truly a wonder that they both didn't have to go weigh themselves out at the truck scales. We would assume that a finely woven white fabric would be best, wonder if unbleached would work almost as well? I'd hesitate to stitch something pristine white for a toddler. Bleaching wouldn't be a good idea and crib quilts have a hard life. (I hope). I'm also guessing that pre-washing should be done - but what about the resulting fabric texture? Would crayons on lightly-starched fabric work okay? Anyone? Polly

"Susan Laity Price" wrote >I have used crayons to re-create the tinted look of the 1930's. First

OK, this is what I meant:

first layer of crayon: lots of colours second layer of crayon: all black - cover everything in a thick layer of black

Now selectively scrape of black, like a line drawing, revealing the colours (changing) beneath.

My comment/concern was then that if we do this on fabric, and then press with something absorbent on the drawing to pull out the excess crayon to make it safe to use in a quilt, might there just be too much crayon on there for this to work? Yes, excess black would come off, but possibly not the excess of the colours beneath, and this might then come back to haunt us later?

I don't know, I've never tried using anything but special fabric crayons on fabric, and then only in normal drawing mode, not the one I described.

That all! Clear as mud yet??? :-)

Hanne in London

Polly Esther wrote:

You won't have lived, Polly! One of those things to try before ...

By the way, I use very simple kitchen towels - just white with an 'impressed' pattern on them. Before giving a short talk one evening, I looked in the larder and there were three different kinds - all perfect examples of a quilting design, to be found in the least likely of places! My audience were most amused >g< I was trying to get them to open their eyes to things around them and their potential. .. In message , Polly Esther writes

A few years ago, each month our guild president handed out muslin blocks with a picture on it pertaining to that particular month. We all had fun coloring the blocks, and at the end of the year you had 12 blocks to make a quilt. Some people actually made their quilt (what a novel idea), and a few outline stitched around each figure/object. I still have my blocks, some colored, some not colored. I guess I can add that to my UFO list. I don't remember the crayon scrapings on my floor, but I had glitter, glue, confetti, poster paint, etc. permanently imbedded into our carpet, several tables, and any hard to get to place when my daughter was growing up because she was always either cheerleader or on the drill team. I thought carpet was supposed to have sparkly flakes in it, lol. Now, she is getting that experience with her children. She also teaches 2nd grade so she knows all about crayon scrapings.

Sherry Starr

Hanne Gottliebsen wrote in news:f5gi29$6s3$1@qmul:

I can't thank you enough Hanne! My grand-daughter will love the "magical" aspect of this. Right now she's enamored at the magic of the Edu-Slate, that slate one writes on with a plastic pen then peels the film back to see it disappear so we can do it again. And again. And again. And again...

It's easy to get him to help clean... just don't take his stuff off the table. I don't ask my guys anymore:) Truly can't complain because now they do it ALMOST automatically and take mine, also, on my bad days. It wasn't overnight, but its there now because it is expected of them. Try reminding him a few times and let us know how if it works. (I tell mine--the trash compactor hasn't been moved lately )

Butterfly (HE helps eat--he helps clean. Fair enuf in my book)

Make sure you put brown grocery bags ON the ironing board. I distinctly remember THAT bit of advice. And I even know where my crayons are-- in the Collectors' tin and know where my pail of colored chalk is. How about that after just having moved???????????????

Butterfly (pretty proud of me this AM)

Wouldn't the starch set up a thin film, almost like a barrier preventing the waxes ability to be able to penetrate the fabric when it's being melted? I'm thinking fabric softener would do the same.

Mz Polly, your assignment today.....AFTER you have another cup of coffee, color, iron, report... then when DH walks by and you're ironing on brown paper and using paper towels, you can tell him you are On Assignment. Think we've covered all bases for you.

Butterfly (Grandkidlets can be your 'grader/helper/etc')

Crayola makes Fabric Crayons.........no Polly, I have no idea what kind of fabric these crayons are made of *sigh* I also called a friend of mine, who for some insane reason chose to be a 1st grade teacher as did your sisters, and she had her class make quilt blocks using this method. Apparently they don't work well if at all on 100% cotton....dunno why.

Here's a link

I'm not sure about the edibilityof this particular Crayola product but I know I used to scoop up some colorful doggy poop when my young son would feed his crayons to the dog.

Val