Recycled Crayons

The Bug turns 3 on the 16th of April so, I am deep into party preparations. She has chosen a PINK princess party for this year. I have seen MANY posts and tutorials about making shaped crayons on other blogs and thought they would be a perfect addition to our goody bags this year. I found crown and castle shaped candy molds on Ebay pretty cheap and rounded up some broken crayons to give it a try. I started out with a makeshift double boiler method (an old tin can in a pot). This worked but the can wasn't heavy enough and bobbled around. I spent the whole time trying to keep it upright with a chopstick. Not fun! I saw others that put silicone molds in the oven with the broken pieces of crayon in them, but my molds were plastic. Then I thought I would try melting my crayons in the can with my oven. Much better! I did find that I had certain crayons that won't melt. I bought a HUGE (like 800 or something) box of crayons from Oriental Trading Company to use to make my party favors. The pink crayons melted fine, but the red and yellow just will not melt for me. I haven't tried the other colors yet. I created a tutorial to show just what I did.  I included my instructions below but if you prefer a PDF file click HERE to get it.

How to Make Recycled Crayons

Supplies Needed

1. Crayons - Old broken crayons work great!  Use similar color or mix them to create a custom color crayon. 
2. Candy mold, chocolate mold, or shaped ice cube tray in your desired design
3. Old can, cleaned and dried.
4. Knife
5. Chopstick for stirring
6. Cover for your work surface
7. Cookie sheet 
8. Aluminum foil for covering cookie sheet
9. Oven preheated to 350 degrees

I suggest you read all the way through these instructions before starting to make sure you understand everything.

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and gather your supplies near the oven.  Make sure you cover your work space with a protective material so you don’t have to spend your evening scraping crayon off your counters.  I used brown craft paper that was used as packaging in some art supplies I ordered, but some other ideas are newspaper, wrapping paper, cardboard, really any thing you have large enough to cover your area that you wouldn’t mind having crayon on.

Step 2

Unwrap your crayons.  I like to use an old knife that I keep just for craft projects (you wouldn’t want to use a knife you still use for food).  I just stick the tip of the knife right under the paper, dig into the crayon just a bit, then drag it all the way up the crayon.  

This works really well, the wrapper just falls right off.  I originally started off using my fingernail, trust me, you don’t want to do that!  Not only did I have pink crayon under my nail for days but IT HURT!  Now just pull the wrapper right off (this is easier with some brands of crayons than others).  You’ll want to make sure you get any little bits of paper that may be stuck off so they aren’t floating around in your melted crayons.  Just use your knife to scrape them off.

Step 3

With your crayons unwrapped, break them in half (or if you are using small, used piece just leave them the size they are) and place them in your tin can.  I like to squeeze my tin can on one side so I have a pour spout for adding my hot wax to my molds.  Do this now, before your can is hot.

Now place your can on a cookie sheet.  I suggest covering your cookie sheet in aluminum foil in case you have any drips.  Now place you cookie sheet with crayon filled can in your preheated oven and set a timer for 5 minutes.  After five minutes check on your crayons and give them a stir with your chopstick.  Add another 5 minutes if needed.  I used 22 crayons and mine melted smooth in 13 minutes (I stirred twice).  Different brands of crayons take different amounts of time to melt so, this is a bit of an experiment when it comes to time.  I have even found that different colors of crayons of the same brand take different amounts of time to melt.  I even found that I had some that wouldn’t melt at all!?  How is that even possible?

Step 4

Once your crayons are uniformly melted carefully remove them from the oven (they are HOT).  You do not want to spill this, oh what a mess it would be.  Hold your can with a pot holder and pour from your can spout into your molds.  You can give the mold a gentle tap on the counter to spread everything out evenly if needed and if you have any bubbles on top, just poke them with your chopstick and they will easily go away.  As you can see in the photo below I have written “crayon” on my mold so I don’t use them for food later (crayons makers say they are non-toxic but I still don’t want to eat them).

Now leave them on the counter to set up until at least semi-sold (10-15 mins).  After they have set up for a bit, if you can find a flat space, place them in the freezer for another 5-10 minutes and they will be ready to go.  I think putting them in the freezer not only speeds their cooling time, but also makes them pop out of the mold more easily.

Step 5

After your crayons have cooled completely just flip your mold over on your counter and your crayons will pop right out.  If they don’t just pop out you can slightly twist the mold to get them out, if you still have troubles and haven’t put them in the freezer, give that a try.  

Now they are ready to be used!!

A Few Notes:  I bought the molds I used on Ebay (I specifically needed the crown shape) but they can be purchased at most craft stores.  I would also check my local Freecycle group, yard sales, and thrift stores for cheap molds.  You could also use an old regular shaped ice cube tray or muffin tin.  If you use the old muffin tin skip the can altogether, put your crayon pieces in the tin, bake, and set up all in on place!

Remember if you use kitchen items for making crayons they needed to then be dedicated to craft and should no longer touch food.  

The heating crayons do smell just a bit so open a window or door if you are sensitive to smells. 

HAVE FUN USING UP THOSE BROKEN CRAYONS OR USE NEW TO CREATE CUSTOM PARTY FAVORS!