Thursday, February 27, 2014

NYC Landmark Crayons

NYC Landmark Crayons
NYC Landmark Crayons
These are the crayons I carved at the TIA Toy Fair in Crayola's booth.  They collected business cards during my demo and they're going to do a drawing to win these carvings along with other works made during the Toy Fair.  I don't know who the winners are, but CONGRATS!

There were three crayons total, I also carved the NYC skyline on a large 2 pound crayon.  Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of it.  That crayon was left at the Toy Fair for display.  I took these home with me so I can safely pack them for Crayola.


Statue Of Liberty Crayon
Statue of Liberty Crayon
This crayon took me a good 5 hours to carve and towards the end her arm/hand broke off!  I think that momentous occasion was even caught on film... you guys should have seen my face.  No tears or swearing, but I was almost there!  Man it sucked to have something break after hours spent working on it.  Luckily the break was fixable, she's now back in one piece thanks to a piece of copper wire and melted wax.  Usually broken crayons  can't be fixed, but this is a special case.  Notice the color difference on the torch hand.  That's where the breakage happened.

I really love how she turned out.  I may have to make another one for myself!

Freedom Tower Crayon
Freedom Tower Crayon
Another famous NYC landmark.  I hope I did it justice... the antennae/spire was hard to make.  I didn't want to make it too thin so the proportions are a bit off.  I had to add some green trees to the base for scale.  The carving is done on a silver Crayola crayon, it has a nice luster in real life.

Thanks again for thinking of my work Crayola, you guys were all a pleasure to work with.  Same with the fine folks at Edleman. :)  Thank you Julie, Nancy, Lianne, Chiara and everyone who came by to say hello! 

Saturday, February 15, 2014

TIA TOY FAIR w/ Crayola!

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Hello everyone,
I will be at Crayola's booth at the TIA Toy Fair in NYC!  If you're at the fair please stop by to say hi.  Crayola asked me to do a crayon carving demo on a few smaller/regular crayons and one LARGE crayon.  Aside from my regular techniques I'll work on my multi-colored crayons as well.  This will be the first time I show how to create an image by combining colored waxes and make it stable. It's very much like an inlay technique and just just melting wax together. 

I will be at the Crayola booth all day on Monday:
TOY FAIR 2014
Javits Center NYC
Booth: CPLM04 (first floor near registration and escalator)

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Johnny Jump Up Flower or Tri Color Viola
One of my favorite flowers because it's so easy to grow.  It's almost a weed in how vigorous it is, but so beautiful.  This carving was done on a HUGE crayola crayon, weighing in at almost 2 pounds!


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Detail shot of the design.  This carving incorporates 9 different Crayola crayon colors.  The work is done like an inlaying for wood.  Channels or deep grooves are carved into the crayon then colored wax is melted into those channels.  The excess are cut off and the surface made flush to reveal the design.  This will be a fun process to see in person.



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Another detail shot:
The design goes all they way around.


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Camellia flower, the Chinese call it "Tea Flower" because tea is made from Camellia sinensis.  It's an early blooming flower, usually the only color that's out when everything else is still covered in snow.  A sign or rebirth and the Spring to come.  This carving was done on a HUGE crayola crayon, weighing in at almost 2 pounds!

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Detail shot of the Camellia Flower carving:
This carving incorporates 4 different Crayola crayon colors.  The work is done like an inlaying for wood.  Channels or deep grooves are carved into the crayon then colored wax is melted into those channels.  The excess are cut off and the surface made flush to reveal the design.  This will be a fun process to see in person.

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A shot with my hand for scale.