Crayons Tutorial

During our Crafty preparations for Mothers Day I managed to get round to something I have been meaning to do for ages, crayone recycling!  I have been meaning to recycle all of our old broken crayons and also the free ones we get whenever we go out for a meal that end up in little packets all over my handbag!

This was the easiest project ever, if a little messy.  To recycle your crayons just follow these easy steps:

You will need:

Crayons - these really need to be wax crayons - the quality of output differed depending on the crayon

Mould in a shape of your choice - we had 2, 1 butterfly silicone one that could go in the oven and 1 Micky Mouse ice cube tray

Jar or receptacle for your crayons to be melted in (if your mould cannot go in the oven)

Stick for stirring

Method
We tried 2 methods, melting on the hob and melting in the oven directly in the mould.

Step 1 - Peel all the papers off the crayons and break into small pieces (the little ones can help with this stage.

Step 2 - (Melting on the hob method) Put your bits of melted crayon into the jar and place the jar in a pan containing boiling water (pic 1).  Stir carefully whilst the water boils and your crayons melt.  When all of the crayons are melted pop into your mould (pic 2).

Pic 1

 Pic 2

Step 2 - (Direct in the oven method) Pre-heat the oven - gas mark 4 (180C/350F).  Put the crayons into your chosen mould.  We used a butterfly shaped mould and also some silicon fairy cake cases so that we could put more colours in our Mickey Mouse ice cube mould (pic 3 and 4).  Place these crayons in the oven on a baking tray for 5 minutes but keep checking them and take out when melted.

                                              Pic 3

    

Pic 4

Step 3 - Once melted the butterfly crayons could be placed in the freezer to set.  The crayons in picture 4 we poured into the Mickey Mouse ice cube tray and then placed this in the freezer also.

Step 4 - After about 30 minutes the freezer will have done it's job and will have helped to set your crayons (pic 5).  Simply pop out your crayons and you will have fabulous shaped crayons that your chilren will love (pic 6)

Pic 5   

 

Pic 6

Points to Note

• Because I had used various different types of crayons some melted better than others.  Some were very lumpy and didn't make great crayons at all (look closely at the blue crayons in pic 5&6) so if you are making these as a present I'd suggest buying some good quality crayons - I think I'm going to do some for party favours  as they make a great unusual gift.
• Don't leave the crayons in the oven too long - they are quite smelly and seem to go a bit bubbly
• Don't leave the crayons in the freezer to set too long! Obvious I know but try explaining to a 2 year old why her butterfly crayons aren't working when they are frozen stiff because Mummy got distracted and left them in the freezer too long!

Have fun!