Secret Messages

Do you love sending or receiving secret messages? If so, now you can make our own!

Materials:
White Crayon (or a taper candle)
Paper
WaterColor Paints

Step 1: Using your white crayon, write your message on your paper. This may be tricky because it will be hard to see where you wrote. Make sure you are using a good firm pressure when you write otherwise you might not get a clear message. I like to write over my words a couple of times to make sure there is enough crayon down.

A white crayon rests diagonally on a blank white spiral-bound sketchbook, which is placed on a black cutting mat with grid lines and measurements.

Step 2: Add watercolor paint right over top and the message will reveal itself! It’s fun to write a message and then give it to a parent or sibling to paint!

Why do you think this works? The wax in the crayon is acting as a resist and pushing the watercolor away so the paint won’t stick to it. Cool huh?

A spiral-bound sketchbook with a mostly blank page, featuring a yellow paint swirl in the upper left corner and a faint green paint line along the bottom edge. The sketchbook is on a grid-patterned surface.

A spiral-bound sketchbook with “Hello!” written in white crayon, revealed by green, yellow, and orange watercolor paint brushed around the letters. The notebook rests on a black cutting mat with measurement markings.

Black and white illustration of a moth above a vertical rectangular shape, with bones and leaves inside, and a blooming flower at the bottom. The art has a woodcut or linocut texture.