I LOVE coming up with creative new ways to expand on or combine our tried-and-true favorite art activities.
Like this stained glass bunting.
We’ve made all kinds of buntings and banners for parties and just-for-fun decorations. And you know how often we do stained glass and suncatcher art activities. So when I thought about combining the two I got a tingle down my spine.
Here’s how we did it.
How to make a bunting stained glass
This is YET ANOTHER melted crayon project. Yes, we’ve been doing quite a few lately. I can’t apologize. They’re a lot of fun.
This is one you’ve probably done yourself, either as a kid or with your own kids. It involves melting crayon shavings in between layers of wax paper.
MATERIALS
- Crayons
- Wax Paper
- Cheese Grater
- Iron
INSTRUCTIONS
First we grated our crayons on the cheese grater…
…and put the shavings into separate compartments of a divided container (this plastic one held ravioli at one time and was rescued from the recycle bin; a muffin tin or small bowls would work just as well).
Then Maia arranged crayon shavings on half of a folded over piece of wax paper. She folded the other half over the shavings, brought the “sandwich” to me, and I ironed it between two layers of paper (to keep the wax from getting everywhere).
This process was repeated at least a dozen times, with all kinds of color combinations. Maia was very enthusiastic.
(By the way, we’ve done these wax paper and crayon melts before. I’ve posted about them here, here, and here.)
Once the wax melts were cool, Maia claimed half for an idea she had (I will post pics soon) and I cut the other half into triangles for the stained glass bunting.
I sewed my triangles together, but if you don’t have a sewing machine you could either use a hot glue gun and ribbon or you could fold a piece of masking tape along the top to create the bunting. Easy peasy.
We hung our new bunting in the living room window. It was lovely there.
But I really wanted to try it outside, so I soon moved it to the porch. It’s beautiful even when the sun isn’t hitting it.
But when the sun shines through the bunting, it’s glorious!
I love color and light.
Love, love, love.
So now you know how to make a bunting stained glass. Pretty cool, eh?
Perhaps you need one of these on your porch or in your window? :)
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40 Comments
Melissa @ the chocolate muffin tree
June 11, 2012 at 8:11 amStunning…..you are always a continuing source of inspiration!
Robin @ tansydolls.blogspot.com
June 11, 2012 at 9:39 amThis is BEAUTIFUL! We love buntings! Aria has over 5 in her room already but I bet she’d love to have a hand in actually making one! Thanks for sharing!
Chrissy @ muse of the morning
June 11, 2012 at 9:40 amJean, that is gorgeous!! And so simple too! I love buntings!
[email protected]
June 11, 2012 at 11:23 amSo beautiful! Will definately be trying this with my girls. Hope you don’t mind but I shared it on my facebook page :)
molly
June 11, 2012 at 2:02 pmBeautiful! At first glance I thought it was fabric – I wonder how this could be done with crayon shavings and fabric, I bet there is a way. Maybe it is time for us to go and do some experimenting! :)
T. Beard
June 11, 2012 at 2:43 pmWhat a beautiful idea! We are redoing part of our yard this fall and I look forward to including this idea to celebrate our new space.
Dena
June 11, 2012 at 6:54 pmHi Jean,
Yes, this is beautiful, and yey, flag bunting that I can actually make!
Thanks!
Claudia
June 11, 2012 at 8:11 pmIt is so fantastic the way you are constantly inventing new ways to apply your favourite art activities. And the results are always so lovely. We will definitely try this one out when the weather clears in Sydney. Your garden looks so sunny at the moment but ours is full of muddy puddles and soggy leaves.
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:52 pmLet me know how the experimenting goes! I’d love to try it with fabric.
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:52 pmNot at all! :)
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:53 pmThanks, Melissa!
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:54 pmFive? Wow. Different kinds?
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:54 pmThanks, Chrissy!
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:54 pmWhat a great way to celebrate your new space!
Jean Van't Hul
June 11, 2012 at 7:56 pmYes! Although with a glue gun you could make any kind of bunting — fabric or paper. You don’t need a sewing machine.
Mama
June 14, 2012 at 10:26 amYou said it right… “love, love, love”
thanks!
Lola
June 14, 2012 at 6:04 pmSoooo beautiful!!! I’m definitely trying this with my daughter. Thanks for being such an inspiration!
Jerilyn
June 15, 2012 at 10:46 pmWe did this today – very fun! I just need to sew them together now, but I’m realizing that the tops of my triangles have a lot of wax – do you think this will be a problem with the sewing machine?
Lisa
July 1, 2012 at 4:06 pmSuch a great idea! These look so fun to make
Debs
August 5, 2012 at 11:11 pmWow!! I just love them! I’ll make them and then send them to you for sewing… deal? hehe. Love!
Mercedes
August 11, 2012 at 4:37 pmGreat idea!! My daughter loves to create art and craft projects!!
She will love this!
Pia
September 3, 2012 at 12:12 amHi Jean
I just tried this but the wax crayon flakes off the wax paper once it has been ironed and then cooled down… any hints? Not sure what else to try???
It does look beautiful but not sure if when I manipulate it to sew a bunting it will just all fall off?!
Jean Van't Hul
September 6, 2012 at 5:39 amHmm… I’ve never had that happen, Pia — and we’ve done this project a LOT (not the bunting part, but the melted crayon shavings). What kind of crayons did you use? And did you melt the crayon between TWO sheets of wax paper? And until it was melty/liquid?
Sarah
September 15, 2012 at 9:57 pmi really like this! i was pinning it to pinterest and realized i have those bird counting prints that you have on the wall. i used to have them in the nursery. how funny!
Natalie, the Chickenblogger
September 16, 2012 at 1:22 pmThank you.
It’s been a long while since I’ve played with wax paper,
and this beautiful project has really inspired me.
Krista
September 24, 2012 at 9:08 pmI just tried grating crayon and holy static cling batman. :( It stuck inside the grater, to the paper underneath, to my fingers… is that normal? Or is it just perhaps a staticky time of season?
MaryAnn F. Kohl, art book author
December 29, 2012 at 2:58 pmLove love love, too. I am always happiest with light and color.
Rachael
January 22, 2013 at 3:18 pmWords cannot describe! We have 1 week left of our summer school holidays (Australia). What a perfect way to squeeze the last few drops of fun and special out of them before its all back to routine and busyness! I love bunting, and am really excited by this degree of beautiful colour! Can’t wait to try it!
Katgirldu
February 23, 2013 at 3:59 pmI just did this with 2 toddler classes I work with. THEY LOOK AWESOME hanging in front of the windows….each child contributed one flag to the piece, and they are all so proud. Can’t wait to do more! The static cling was definitely a problem for me too, I had to spray the grater with static guard after grating to release the crayon shavings!
Barbara
April 1, 2013 at 10:58 amThis is GORGEOUS!! What a great twist on a common idea. LOVE it!! Pinning and sharing on my blog Facebook page. Ms. Barbara from For the Children
Rhi j
May 8, 2013 at 8:08 amLove this! Doing it tomorrow with a grade 7 class! Fingers crossed it goes all well.
priya
July 3, 2013 at 8:38 amabsolutely fabulous!
cant wait to try it with my 3 year old. thanx jean:D
i guess to avoid the crayons from sticking to the grater, one could freeze them for a while before grating!
Nancy
July 30, 2013 at 11:50 amDoesn’t the wax fall/lift off the wax paper on movement ?? They look great!! but….. ??
Kelly
January 16, 2014 at 10:27 amI love reading post like these. Thanx for sharing x
Jeanine
January 24, 2014 at 4:51 pmJean, I am just head over heels happy to have all of these incredibly creative resources all at my finger tips, thanks to you! There are SOO many projects here that I have thought to create some of the very same things before as well. I just love it here! It’s like a playground! I have been liking blogs here there and everywhere for their creative kids crafts but I love finding those few that I am confident I can count on as a One Sttop Shop so to speak, for all our families children and their activity needs! JUST A HUGE THANKS from us up here in Canada to you for offering all of your experience, for free as well. That makes it all the better for our single parent family :D Look forward to seeing what comes next and sharing our results linking you, for my future posts.
D
March 16, 2018 at 11:20 amThis is a beautiful project, perhaps my favorite use of broken crayons yet! I made this with my daughter to decorate for her 7-yr birthday party. She got a little tired of shredding the crayons – we tried it both with the grater and with a crayon sharpener, both ways were tedious, time-consuming, and very messy. At first I didn’t know what setting to use on the iron, but I saw on another of your posts that you use the silk setting, which worked perfectly. It doesn’t take long with the iron at all; I ironed them in file folders.
Thank you for sharing this idea. If I may humbly suggest it, I think it would be nice to also share what was messy and time-consuming so we don’t have an idealized expectation of what these projects involve. It also would be helpful to have a template for the bunting. I found this one elsewhere and it was a good size…https://makebreaks.com/2016/11/24/free-blank-bunting-template/
Thanks again!
Mayank Kumar
November 28, 2019 at 2:22 pmThis is really a great idea, I’ll try it for sure. But one thing I’m confused with is the title of the crafts.
We have not used Glass anywhere in the crafts, still used the term ‘Glass’. why?
Nathalie
May 22, 2020 at 4:27 amHello these are gorgeous. I wondered if baking paper would work instead of waxed?
Thank you
Suja
June 8, 2021 at 11:41 amHello ,
It’s so beautiful. I didn’t have wax paper handy so I used baking paper . It was until we iron but then started to peel off by itself . I am little disappointed with this . Please mention alternate stationary for your projects . Thanks for the great idea.
The Artful Parent Editorial Team
June 9, 2021 at 1:15 pmHi there,
So sorry this didn’t work for you! Unfortunately, this project needs wax paper, as the wax melts with the heat from the iron and then sticks together to seal the crayon shavings inside. If you don’t have wax paper, you could try using clear contact paper and then just don’t iron the pieces together. You can also visit our page of stained glass and suncatcher ideas at https://artfulparent.com/stained-glass-suncatcher-ideas-kids/
Hope you are able to try this again!
Thanks,
the Editorial Team