MAKING 'EM MELT: Library hosts colorful crayon jewelry class
Jun. 6—Local adults played with crayons on June 6 to create colorful works of jewelry during a Tahlequah Public Library adult craft program.
"We're doing a craft program a week in June for adults," said TPL Clerk Jane Adams. "Today, we're melting crayons and making pendants."
The jewelry-making process began with a pack of crayons. Participants used scissors and small cheese graters to turn their crayons into piles of colored shavings. The wax pieces were then transferred into jewelry blanks and hit with a heat gun.
"The one thing that I know is, if you mix the wrong colors together, you'll get brown," said Jane.
To avoid this result, Jane suggested not mixing opposite colors, like purple and yellow, together.
Jane's husband, Terry Adams, helped out with the project. Terry advised participants to keep the heat gun at least a foot away from the pendant.
"When it starts melting and you're too close to [the piece], it will start pushing the colors together," said Terry.
Each pendant took several rounds of heat, and many participants added more shavings each time to bulk up their pieces. The heat also allowed for easy design changes.
"If you make your design and you don't like how it looks and want to try another color, you can heat it back up and use a paper towel to [remove the color]," said Jane.
All pendants were finished off with a dot of glue and a clear cover piece to seal the wax work.
People of all levels of crafting experience participated in Tuesday night's program. Juliana Cruz was careful with her work, selecting individual crayon shavings with tweezers to place on her rainbow design.
"I think this one's going to be mine," said Cruz. "My daughter might steal it from me, but that's fine."
Xane Bryant said this was probably her first craft class at the library. Bryant wasn't yet sure what she planned to do with the finished pieces.
"I have no idea what I'm doing with them," said Bryant. "It depends on how they look."
Jamie Lee created a pair of swirled black-and-white earrings and two necklace pendants dotted with blue, pink, and purple.
"I'll probably give the necklaces to my girls and keep the earrings. I work at Heritage [Elementary] and they match my house colors," said Lee.
Lee's house is "Altruismo." In Heritage's house system, this is the house of givers and features a serpent as its symbolic animal.
"If I was really creative, I would have made a snake," she said.
What's next
The next adult craft program at the Tahlequah Public Library is a wooden puzzle piece door decoration. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13 from 6-7 p.m.
