Nature at Night

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to create a masterpiece during Maker Day? If so, here’s a story of my journey! I was inspired by mixed media art I saw and excitedly wanted to create my own. 

First, I wrote a project proposal that included materials, a budget, and a sketch of what I wanted it to look like. The materials were tape, a heat element, scrap crayons, paint, hot glue, and nature. After having an adult check it over, I collected and paid for my materials from the Maker Mansion. 

Then, I put the frame down on the table and put a circle of tape on the corner of the frame. This blocked the paint to make the moon. Next, I used a sharp edge to cut the crayon wrapping, Then I used my hands to carefully peel all the paper off the scrap crayons to get them ready for melting. 

After that, I started quickly painting it with blue paint so it looks like night time. When that was dry, I used a different brush to splatter white paint over the blue so it looks like stars. Some of my friends told me the spattered stars looked cool. This was one of my favorite parts because it felt satisfying. That was the end of that Maker Day. 

During the next Maker Day, I got started right away! I slowly hot glued the crayons to the bottom of the frame. I put them in a certain order to form grass and trees. This part was the most challenging because I started by putting the hot glue on the crayons, but the crayons would melt. Then, someone recommended that I put the glue on the frame first and then put the crayons on the glue. That worked best!

After the crayons were hot glued, I turned the frame upside down so I could use the FORCE OF GRAVITY when melting the crayons with the heating element. I turned the frame side to side so that the melting crayons would spread out in different directions. This made it look more like trees. I really loved this part because I got to learn how to use the heating element and it looked like water rushing down the frame. 

Finally, I added Virginia White Pine branches to make it look even more like a scene from nature. When I was done, I felt accomplished, like I could do anything! People said they really liked how I used the crayons. At the end of the day, I took it home and proudly put my art on my table to show off my masterpiece. My family said it really looked like nature at night!