Scratch it out with Sgraffito

Sgraffito is the 'oh so arty Italian' terminology for a fun and simple technique with wax crayons which you probably enjoyed when you were young, I know I did.  I've been meaning to try it out with the Boo for a while, though I did choose to prepare the panels for scratching in advance myself as I thought she would tire of the laborious process of applying the thick layers.

I can strongly recommend Stockmar beeswax crayons for this techique, they really are superior to any other crayons I have used.

First you lay down an underlayer of luminous colour:

 
Then apply a thick layer of black crayon over the top:

 
I wasn't entirely sure what tool to use to scratch out the image.

First we tried bamboo skewers; too soft.

 
Then we tried an etching needle; too scratchy (and Boo pricked herself).

Finally, it dawned on me I had a scraperboard tool - I found it pretty easy to use this, and you can get different marks by using either the point or the side.  However, Boo found it a bit hard to handle and cut through the paper a number of times.  She managed to make some marks but only with my hand guiding her.

 
 
Here's mine:

 

 
 
After we had done these little panels, I was having a look around the web to see what tools other people used for sgraffito, and found some lovely dinky little images on the blog Made by Joel.  I read that he also used Stockmar crayons, and that the crayon set included a tool for creating sgraffito.  The lightbulb went on!  Ah, that's what those little plastic doo-dahs were in the two tins of Stockmar crayons we have (I bought one, one was a gift).... now where on earth have I put them?! 

Will report on their efficacy when I track them down...