Playing With The Inner Child

I've always had a thing about crayons. Chubbi's in particular, the kind they have in nursery schools, the big thick ones. Only thing about them was, they sometimes didn't make all that great a mark...there was something hard about them, and they sort of squeaked on the table sometimes... I've often felt the same about textile crayons; the idea is great, but they always seem so hard... and then I went to demo for ColourCraft at Harrogate last year. Oooh, crayons, I said. Yes, they said. They're just for kids. But when I pouted, they said, go on then, you can play with them too.

So me and my inner child played with the crayons for a bit, and they were Good; very satisfyingly chunky, not unlike Chubbies were. As you can see from the illustration, the colour is bright, and they work nicely on Evolon that had been transfer dyed in places. What you can't see from the illustration is how nicely they work on cloth; they feel really soft and smooth, and I loved them! But they're just for kids, they kept saying. I'm of the view that I don't care who they're for; if they work, they work! And they certainly do. (The flower tops are made with copper Gutta, by the way...).

So now I'm having a conversation with my inner child. We're thinking... resists under Procion... detail over Procion... drawings just for fun... tshirts.... all we have to do now is wait until the Little Green Shed defrosts a bit (the water for dyeing has frozen), and go Try It Out! In the meantime, my inner child and I are going to prepare some Evolon for blasting with heat... and colouring a little doll, too. We like colour. We like easy. We like fun. Hurrah!!!