We set high and lofty goals when we got the Star Wars molds (hey, that rhymes…) – we wanted to reuse the saved broken crayons and make them into new! So on a sunny Sunday, we set to make the crayons you ARE looking for. Here are the directions and here are some lessons.
Trial One – Preparation
Turn the oven on to 200 degrees F.
Get the kids involved in peeling off the paper and sorting the crayons into different color sets. Work on numbers by counting in each group and how many groups you have (go you – you snuck in math!). This part can take awhile, so use as many hands as you can get. Also, it seems like you have a lot of crayons, you don’t. You need more crayons than you think.
After all the crayons are peeled and “naked,” we cut them into pieces. Later we learned, this part is totally unnecessary for the second method we used (you’ll read that below), but nonetheless, we did start the day by cutting them.
Trial One -Molds
Set the crayon pieces into the molds, and set the molds on cookie sheet. Into the oven for 15 minutes.
Trial One -After math
Okay – so we didn’t have enough crayons on the initial batch for the molds we filled. Even overfilling with the chopped crayon pieces did not fill the mold enough. So then went onto trial two.
Trial Two – Preparation
Chopped up more crayons and put them in little glass Pyrex containers. Put them on a cooking sheet and put them in the oven to melt.
Trial Two – Mold
Fail at pouring from said container into the molds. This is not a good idea. Hot colored wax is getting everywhere.
Trial Two – Aftermath
We have to find a better way.
Trial Three – Preparation
Set up Double Boiler with small pan and glass Pyrex measuring cup. Dump whole crayons by color choices into the measuring cup.
Trial Thee – Mold
Easily pour wax into molds.
Trial Three – Aftermath
After letting molds cool for an appropriate amount of time, enjoy the bounty of your treasure. None of these crayons are going into the trash compactor with Diagona.
Lessons Learned
1- Using a double boiler method is the best way. You don’t have to chop crayons and if you use a glass Pyrex measuring cup, then you have a pourable container. Don’t even mess with the oven.
2- POUR your color choice into the molds and then let cool. Depending not the size of the mold this can take upwards of 30 minutes. Be patient. If not, you will be remelting the wax to redo it.
3- Be prepared for it to be messy. If you are using your kitchen space, think ahead about meals. If you have a craft space for this, well, then you don’t have to worry about the kitchen then.
4- Prepare yourself that your children just might not want to use the beautiful crayons, because they are too amazing.
5- Turn the vent on over your stove to prevent a headache from the melting wax fumes.
Are you making crayons? Good luck! Let us know how it goes!
