Every month I look forward to my visit to Michelle Ward’s GPP Street Team blog so that I can see what Michelle has come up with for the crusade of the month.  Last month it was paper casting which is something I love.  This month it is IRRESISTIBLE – wax resist!  I set off to visit some of the other artists’ work and to create my own crusade items.

Earlier this year, I did some wax resist from a workshop with an online group that is working through Julia Andrus’s Paper Transformed.  At that time, I used beeswax and melted candle wax as my resist.  This time I am going much more simple – good, old-fashioned Crayola crayons are the wax for my resist this month.

I was certain I needed to use a stamp as my etching.  Do not ask why I was so narrow minded.  I was thinking choosing a stamp was going to be difficult when my daily mail arrived.  To my great surprise, my Latest Trend’s Art Partner Challenge was in the mail and it included a stamp from Inka Stamps so I decided fate had chosen a stamp for me.  I gathered up my supplies and got started.

Please ignore the mess on my table as I was trying to find the room with the best light.  I did use two different color crayons – brown and white.  You cannot see the white rubbing but can see the brown one.  I, then, took watercolors and went over the rubbings and quickly blotted excess paint off the paper.

I was really not liking this particular product so went back and re-read Michelle’s tutorial.  Oh yeah, she said acrylic paint.  I pulled out some cheap craft acrylics and tried with the same stamp again.

These didn’t really move me either.  I don’t know what I am looking for but neither of these are it.  So I went surfing. The great thing about the Street Team crusades is that there are links to everyone else doing the challenge.  I was inspired greatly by Kim as she was using items other than stencils and stamps.  I went off around my house looking for other items I could use. 

So I started again and below are the results from the edge of the pressed aluminum tray and the middle of the tray and the magnet.

I think my favorite are the ones from the pressed aluminum tray.  A hint I would offer comes from my searching other’s work and that is to think outside stencils and stamps.  Another hint is to be sure your crayon is worn.  I took one of my son’s jackknives and made the crayon flat on the long side so it was easier to use.