Bible Journaling With White Crayon
I fondly remember doing this in elementary school art class, and the first time I discovered I could write a secret letter, that my friend could reveal when she colored over the words, written in white. Now, I'm taking those childhood skills and putting them to use in my journaling Bible. Here are a few ways to use white crayon in your journaling.
Granted, some of them did not turn out so great, but I'm sharing those, too. Maybe they will give you new ideas. Or save you the trouble of ruining a perfectly good journal entry.
Use A Traceable
So, first, I used my traceable (available at the end of this post). Putting it under my paper, I traced over it with white crayon. Of course, you could just freehand something, but keeping track of white crayon on white paper is no easy task, so I like to follow a guide--in this case, my traceable "faith, hope, love."
Method 1: Gelatos
For my first experiment, I used Gelatos. If you haven't used these before, they are so beautiful and fun. I highly recommend them for any Bible J-er. You can read about my first experience using Gelatos here.
I colored Gelato over my white crayon and then smeared and blended it with a paper towel. I think the effect is very soft and pretty. And the crayon shows through nicely. Plus, I know from experience that Gelatos don't bleed through fragile Bible pages. Win!
Next, I tried coloring over my white crayon with my Tanmit brush markers. This worked very well, leaving a crisp outline. However, it's a fairly simple look. I wasn't able to do any blending. These brush pens also do not bleed through too badly as long as they are not too thickly applied to the page.
Method 3: Watercolor Paints
My third attempt was a watercolor, which I did over another printable of an umbrella (find it here). I simply dipped my brush in water, swirled it around in my watercolor paints and applied them over the crayon. I was surprised to find the watercolor did not work very well. The image looked faded. But I wasn't ready to give up on the watercolor look yet. I decided to try a trick I'd learned.
Method 4: Faux Watercolor with Markers
I colored on a plastic sandwich baggie with my Tanmit brush markers, using different shades of purple, pink and blue. Then I lightly misted the baggie with a water bottle and scrunched it up a little. I applied the wet colors to my paper, right over the top of the white crayon. I had to do this a few times, but it did leave a decent image... much more clear than traditional watercolor. However, I think this would most likely bleed through a Bible page.
Conclusion
Overall, the cleanest methods seemed to be the Gelatos and the straight-up marker. Which one are YOU going to try? Let me know in the comments and send me your pictures on Facebook.
To download this free traceable file (faith, hope, love arrows), click the image below to open, then right click to save.
Want more Bible J Ideas?Check out my post on Bible Journaling Supplies.