Crayons can be used to create colour on fabric by direct or tranfer technique
You will need crayons. These are el cheapo two dollar crayons, which work well for some techniques but not for others. For some techniques I used fabric crayons (Crayola)
Most books and tutorials tell you to use general computer paper for transfer printing. I find that this does not work particularly well. I have drawn on the paper with the crayons below,
You can see the transfer is not good. The crayons have less pigment and they simply soak into the paper when you iron it.
One technique that works well with these crayons uses parchment or baking paper
Use a scalpel or sharp blade to scrape flakes off the crayons onto a piece of parchment.
Cover with another piece of parchment and iron briefly. You will see the flakes spread and become circular as they melt
Pull the two pieces of parchment apart when cool. If you pull them apart when hot, you will have gray on on both pieces
Place the parchment crayon side down and iron onto the fabric. This speckled texture is useful for rocks or pebbles.
This second scribbled parchment is done with fabric crayons
As you can see the transfer is much better
You can also transfer to scrunched fabric (FabricCrayons)
This is the result
and when un scrunched. It is certainly a candidate for layers
Here I am layering a scribbled (Fabric marker) over it
Thr result is that the first layer is a bit over powered. However, the scrunching technique is great for overlays on pale coloured fabric or with metallics.
Using the flaking method you can add layers until you like what you have
The first layer in brown
More layers in red, green and yellow
Now some leaves (using a fabric crayon)
Unfortunately that colour did not transfer well and you will find that different colours transfer to a different degree. But there is a subtle effect
then some branches.
You can also draw directly on the fabric and this gives a more vibrant result. Iron your fabric onto some freezer paper first to help you draw without the fabric scrunching up
Draw directly on the fabric
heat set using parchment paper and an iron. I like the blurring which occurs
So I have shown you a few ideas with crayons
I might use this technique where I want to create a subtle overlay, but for more vibrancy, I would use paint or Artists soft pastels which can give a wider range of effects and depth, however, Metallic crayons may be worth looking into for overlays.
