Rainbow Melt

I saw this amazing rainbow idea here and knew I had to use it as a starting point.

But I didn't want a plain canvas!  I was going to use it in my sewing studio, which also doubles as my daughters' craft space.  So I figured out a way to combine those thoughts.....

I purchased 3 11" x 14" canvases in a pack for $5.47 at Wal-Mart.  They were not traditional canvas depth, they were mostly flat, which I liked.  And I liked the price. And I didn't want to make another stop, so into the cart they went!

I took a Sharpie and "took a line for a walk" around the canvas to break up the space.  And then in each one, I filled in a machine quilting design.  For inspiration, I trolled around Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project site and found lots of ideas!  {If you haven't seen Leah's work, it's amazing! She has wonderful instructions and videos for over 300 machine quilting designs.}

Just to save some time (and work) I marked off where the crayons were going to cover at the top and left that part blank.

I hot glued the crayons on.  Actually, before that I arranged them in approximate order.  My youngest daughter really wanted the white one on the left side (and she's 2, so I left it there!) so I put the black one on the left to balance it out.  All of these came out of a box of 64 crayons.

Then, the exciting part!  We got out the hair dryer, took it outside and melted it!

I love how it turned out!

Just a few tips in case you are going to try this:

It doesn't take long to get the wax to melt, and yes a hair dryer will work.

But it's messy.  And I don't say that lightly.  I am used to my projects making a big mess!

But the wax kind of flies around, so be aware of your clothes, your surface, your shoes, etc.  

They might get splattered.