Polymer Clay Wax Crayon Inclusion Beads Mini Tutorial
Video #628: My original article about polymer clay crayon beads has been quite popular on Pinterest… here’s a video update.
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IN THIS POST: — crayons — crayola — beads — wax — candles — inclusions — kids crafts — teacher resources — faux stone — rocks — rustic — elementary school — crayon beads — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Showing you how to make polymer clay crayon beads.
- Been making these crayon beads for a long, long time.
- Recently, someone found an old post of this tutorial on our blog, and added it to their Pinterest Board… it is now getting lots of re-pins.
- So Doug suggested that I make a new video for you all… and I said sure!
- All you need is some polymer clay… I’m using Premo White Translucent… and some wax crayons.
- I have a big bag of broken crayons, some from my kids and some from my Mom, who is an Elementary School Teacher.
- Here are a few crayon beads made with some no name brand crayons. The color is kind of faint because of the low amount of pigments in the lower quality crayons.
- For more punch of color, use a good brand such as Crayola Crayons, which have a higher pigment level than the cheaper brands of crayons.
- I show a bead fresh out of the oven, with melted crayon drips on the underside.
- You can wipe the drips using a paper towel while the bead is still warm.
- My bead had cooled down too much to show the wiping, so I will warm with a heat gun later to clean up the drips.
- I used fairly large chunks of crayon in my sample bead, and you can see the pitting where the wax melted out of the clay.
- It is similar to those “retro” candles in the 70s where wax was poured over ice cubes leaving holes in the wax when it hardened, after the ice had melted away.
- Take translucent clay and warm it up to condition and soften the clay.
- Grate or chop 1 or more colors of wax crayon into a pile.
- Add chopped crayon to translucent polymer clay, kneading until well mixed.
- You can add a little or a lot of crayons, depending on the look you want.
- The larger the chunks of wax are, the more of that holey melted ice look you will get.
- The smaller the crayon bits are, the more it will tint the clay.
- You can add one color or twenty… it’s up to you.
- Multiple colors will give kind of a confetti look.
- Some crayons will melt really well… some won’t.
- You can have some on the outside if you like.
- Don’t run the clay/wax combo through your pasta machine. The crayon chunks are too hard on the pasta machine rollers, and could get stuck behind your scrapers. Just mix the clay by hand or use a NEVERKnead Machine to work it in.
- Then shape your polymer clay into whatever bead shape as you want.
- When baking your beads, make sure to line your bead rack or pan with paper or cardboard to catch the melted crayon wax drips.
- Try to avoid getting fingerprints on your beads.
- You can see by the sample I show in the video… of the baked and the unbaked beads where I used the same crayon colors and translucent polymer clay… that the color changes quite a bit after baking.
- Some crayons are quite opaque and will change the translucency of the bead.
- This technique gives an almost stone like look.
- Crayon beads are a great way to use up old crayons (or new ones if you want)… you can even use the shavings from a crayon sharpener.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today’s PcT Mini Tute, I’m gonna
00:00:08 –> 00:00:12 show you how to make Polymer Clay crayon beads.
00:00:12 –> 00:00:17 Now I’ve been making these kind of beads using crayons for a long, long time, but recently
00:00:17 –> 00:00:23 somebody found an old post from our blog and pinned it on Pinterest and it’s been going
00:00:23 –> 00:00:28 crazy, so Doug said ‘why don’t you do a new video’ and I said, ‘Okay’, so that’s
00:00:28 –> 00:00:29 what we’re doing.
00:00:29 –> 00:00:33 Now, all you need is some Polymer Clay, and I’m using Premo!
00:00:33 –> 00:00:37 White Translucent, and you could use…
00:00:37 –> 00:00:41 well the Translucents really are the best to use for this situation, but you could use
00:00:41 –> 00:00:45 the other ones, it would just have a little bit different look.
00:00:45 –> 00:00:51 And then you need some crayons, now I have a big bag of broken crayons…and you know,
00:00:51 –> 00:00:55 when you have kids you have stuff and crayons, and my Mom…
00:00:55 –> 00:01:00 I think my Mom contributed to this, she’s an elementary school teacher, I don’t think
00:01:00 –> 00:01:05 my kids have broken this many crayons because when I looked at Willow’s box of crayons,
00:01:05 –> 00:01:07 they were all perfect.
00:01:07 –> 00:01:12 So I’m thinking that bag…I can’t remember where it came from, but I think it came from
00:01:12 –> 00:01:17 some other kids as well as mine, so anyways, all you need is some crayons.
00:01:17 –> 00:01:25 Now here are some beads that I’ve made using crayons, these were with some sorta no name
00:01:25 –> 00:01:33 brand crayons that didn’t have a lot of pigment in them, and I’m gonna show you a different…
00:01:33 –> 00:01:39 beads made with…using like a good brand like Crayola, Crayola has more pigment in
00:01:39 –> 00:01:46 the wax than some of the other brands do, so if you really wanna big punch of color,
00:01:46 –> 00:01:51 you’re gonna want to use one of the better crayons like Crayola.
00:01:51 –> 00:01:55 And I have a bead out of the oven, I wanna show it to you now because I think it’s still
00:01:55 –> 00:02:02 warm, here’s one done with some Crayola crayons, and it’s a little bit melty on the bottom,
00:02:02 –> 00:02:06 oh it’s starting to dry now, it’s cooled off a bit, but the crayon had melted underneath
00:02:06 –> 00:02:16 and I was gonna catch it when it was still warm and wipe it off, but here you can see…I
00:02:16 –> 00:02:20 think what I’ll do is just warm that up with the heat gun, and then wipe off the melted
00:02:20 –> 00:02:21 crayon.
00:02:21 –> 00:02:25 But on this side, what you can see is the…
00:02:25 –> 00:02:32 I used some fairly large chunks of the crayon in here, and it gave an overall look, but
00:02:32 –> 00:02:39 then it also gave kind of a pitted look where the crayon has melted out and dripped down…obviously,
00:02:39 –> 00:02:40 to the backside.
00:02:40 –> 00:02:46 And then you get this almost like the old candles with the wax in it, you know…or
00:02:46 –> 00:02:50 no, candles with wax, of course candles have wax, I mean the ones where you put the ice
00:02:50 –> 00:02:55 cubes in it and then the ice cubes melt away and you get that sort of holey-candle thing
00:02:55 –> 00:03:01 going on, I don’t know if you were…if you were around in the 70’s, you would know what
00:03:01 –> 00:03:03 I was talking about.
00:03:03 –> 00:03:08 Anyways, I’ll show you how to make them, what you do is you take some Translucent Clay and
00:03:08 –> 00:03:15 warm it up, I was kneading this up a little while ago, then you take some crayon, and
00:03:15 –> 00:03:21 I’ve got some chopped up here already, you can either use like an old grater, and then
00:03:21 –> 00:03:31 just grate it up like this, or you can just use your clay blade or a razor blade or something
00:03:31 –> 00:03:40 and just take off chunks of the Red crayon, and I’m just taking some White, some…I don’t
00:03:40 –> 00:03:46 know what color they called it, that…it’s called Blue Green…that dark one was called
00:03:46 –> 00:03:55 Blue Green, and then this one is called Sea Green and I’m just taking chunks of it off,
00:03:55 –> 00:04:01 and the larger the chunks are, the more of that ice melted effect you get, and the smaller
00:04:01 –> 00:04:06 the chunks are, the more it tints the clay.
00:04:06 –> 00:04:12 You could use one color, you could 20 colors, you would have more of a confetti look if
00:04:12 –> 00:04:19 you used lots of colors, some colors will melt really well some won’t, so you get some
00:04:19 –> 00:04:29 crayons chopped up and you just mix it in, it’s pretty simple, you can put lots in or
00:04:29 –> 00:04:35 just a little bit, you can have some on the outside of your bead if you want, you can
00:04:35 –> 00:04:36 work it all in.
00:04:36 –> 00:04:42 I wouldn’t run this through your pasta machine because those chunks are gonna be hard on
00:04:42 –> 00:04:50 the rollers, and you don’t want extra chunks of stuff getting caught in the scrapers and
00:04:50 –> 00:04:57 things like that, but that’s all you have to do, then you would shape it into… mix
00:04:57 –> 00:05:04 it up properly, so I would either use my NEVERknead which I have right there, or because this
00:05:04 –> 00:05:09 is quite warm already, I can just do this in my hands, ‘cause most of you won’t have
00:05:09 –> 00:05:12 the NEVERknead quite yet.
00:05:12 –> 00:05:18 Alright, so can you see that, it’s mixed in through, you can mix it in really well or
00:05:18 –> 00:05:22 not, and then you just break off a chunk and then make it in to whatever shaped bead that
00:05:22 –> 00:05:23 you want.
00:05:23 –> 00:05:31 Now when you bake it, you’re going to want to…if you’re making a bead, you’re gonna
00:05:31 –> 00:05:38 want to put some paper underneath in your bead rack, because, some of it could drip
00:05:38 –> 00:05:46 out as it melts…the wax, so I’m just gonna do this really quick, and I would try to avoid
00:05:46 –> 00:05:52 getting fingerprints all over my bead, but I don’t have a lot of time right here, but
00:05:52 –> 00:06:01 you would just…ok, then you would just set it on the bead rack and let it drip through.
00:06:01 –> 00:06:06 As you can see, this is using exactly the same colors as I did for this one here, and
00:06:06 –> 00:06:13 you can see it does change quite a bit, it does tint the Translucent clay, the Translucent
00:06:13 –> 00:06:20 isn’t terribly Translucent ‘cause there is some… the wax crayons are opaque, but
00:06:20 –> 00:06:27 you get this really cool, almost stone like effect, you could also mix in some other things
00:06:27 –> 00:06:29 as well, if you like.
00:06:29 –> 00:06:36 But the crayon beads are a great way to use up your old crayons, the broken ones or, you
00:06:36 –> 00:06:42 know, a new set if you want, you can empty out your crayon sharpener too if you wanted,
00:06:42 –> 00:06:49 use up all those little bits, and you can bake up some really great looking Faux Stone
00:06:49 –> 00:06:51 type beads with… using crayons.
00:06:51 –> 00:06:55 I hope you like that, if you did, do let us know.
00:06:55 –> 00:07:01 And if you have suggestions or ideas, things you’ve might have seen on Pinterest or other
00:07:01 –> 00:07:06 places that you would like me to try out, then do let me know that in the comment section
00:07:06 –> 00:07:07 below.
00:07:07 –> 00:07:13 And don’t forget we have a great resource over at PolymerClayTutor.com where you can
00:07:13 –> 00:07:17 find all the answers to your Polymer Clay questions.
00:07:17 –> 00:07:19 We’ll see you next time and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Related Video: Crayon Shavings Polymer Clay Bead making Tutorial
- Related Article: Dried Flower Jewelry Bead Inclusions
- Related Video: Mixing Thread Fibers with Handmade Beads
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Finally got my crayons ( on sale, of course). This weekend will be crayon bead day. Love the rustic, pitted look.TY for a fun way to use up old ( in my case NEW) crayons……………fun galore
Hi Cindy! Love this technique. I also saw another artist’s finished piece using crayons to color the outside of her pendant piece. Can you show how to do that? Thanks
Hi Hope, did the artist use wax crayons or pencil crayons, because I know you can use pencils but not sure about the wax? I think they probably would be hard to color on raw clay and don’t know if they would stick to baked clay very well.
And last night I Sugrued my bead rack. And this morning I baked m y crayon beads. Now I have to go look at them.
How cool Peg! The Sugru on the rack makes all the difference in the world… no more bead pins falling off the rack!
Cindy … love the crayon inclusions, and they are fun to do! My question is concerning your bead baker. What is the advantage of the little colorful clay add-ons? Thanks.
I can answer that one. That is actually sugru and it allows the bead pins to nestle in the grooves so they don’t fall off. She has done a demo on it. Just plug in sugru and it will come up.
Thank you … very cool stuff!
Cindy, I am confused. I got my crayons (way too many) and made 18 small beads and a larger teardrop for the focal piece. I’ve left them alone for a couple of days so they shouldn ‘t be too warm. Here’s my confusion-do I pierce the beads before I bake them or do I wait and drill them after baking? I finaly got around to drilling a baked piece a week or so ago and it is incredibly easy, but I’m not sure if that is the best way when it is so small. They are about the size of a garbanzo bean. I really did enjoy making these beads and I think I am going to make a tribal mask as a focal bead as well. I have lots of translucent clay and crayons and time. Good combo for this procedure.
Oh Peg, I’m sorry I missed your question! With beads I like to pierce them with a fairly fine bead wire before baking then drill the hole bigger if I need to, after it is baked. It is fairly easy to get the hole straight that way and they hang beautifully in a bead rack to bake and don’t get distorted by sitting on a flat surface.
Thanks Cindy for reminding us about crayon beads. When my girls were small we did heaps of crayon – art together and I’m sure (like you) I have a baggie of broken ones somewhere?
Your mini Studio Zone tour was inspiring. I went to the pound shop (dollar tree) where a new line of storage boxes had just been put on the shelves. Great colors, I chose bright purple and must go back to buy some more for my purple zone, before they sell out. As a mixed media artist you can never have enough storage and I promised myself this year to get more organised but my horoscope for this week says –
( It’s time to turn your back on boring tasks and throw yourself into something you love. Take a good look at the bigger picture and start making plans for the future)……..So as I work from home, mostly from my living room I have “upcycled” my large junk/antique furniture to hold most of my craft supplies. I have three small sheds in my garden which I painted pale blue to look like beach huts, now have to decide which one to turn into a studio for my messy/noisy crafts. This will have to wait till the warmer weather as it’s very chilly here in Essex and more snow is forecast. But my friends are more interested in what I am creating and accept that I work in “organised chaos”. So think I will follow my “stars” and give myself a break and do what I love for the next couple of cold months……. Polymer clay “what else”……cheers xx…….
How wonderful Elaine! I would love to see you beach hut garden sheds! They sound adorable! Glad to hear the video inspired you to get a little more organized. It feels good when things are in order… so you can get to messing it up again! :)
Thanks so much for this neat video Cindy. I have never heard of crayon beads and I have to agree they are kind of cool. I haven’t had crayons in my house for decades so will have to break down and buy a small package and try these.