3 Different Surfaces for Coloring with Crayons

Messing around with Color Swell bulk crayons is fun and allows kids’ imagination to run free. But what if there was other surfaces they could use it on? Have you wondered what it might be like on wood or sandpaper? What about for rubbings? Let’s now look at all three with an idea of sparking off some ideas for art projects.

Rubbings

The first idea is to use crayons to capture textures of engravings and other indentations.

For rubbings you could go to an old church and capture the engravings on the architectural stonework and memorials.

Without leaving the art room you could make rubbings of leaves to capture the intricate organs on them. What about coins and medals?

Whatever you explore, the technique is broadly the same. Use a relatively thin piece of paper to maximize the texture capture, and remove the paper sides of the crayons. You then do the rubbings with the side of the crayons to capture the patterns with the subject item underneath the paper on a flat surface.

Wood

For this you could experiment. On a polished wood surface crayon will bond well, and if you have an a small sponge with alcohol you can explore blending techniques with different colors.

Have you thought of textured wood? Perhaps snap a stick along the grain and try different colors to accentuate the irregular indentations. A break could look beautiful! With wood that has already been engraved and carved, a bit of crayon could improve the look considerably.

Sandpaper too?

You will want to use older crayons for this as they won’t last long with the abrasion!

Try sketching on the sandpaper and filling in with different colors.

While you’re playing with sandpaper, try coloring on a range of different levels of coarseness. How do the pictures appear on a finer sandpaper as against a coarser one?

Let their minds run free!

Ultimately it is about exploring new ways of using crayons and allowing children’s minds to discover new ways of using a more traditional form. It could teach children an important soft skill - ‘thinking outside the box’ and original thinking by experimentation. That’s a highly desirable skill in this world!