Monday, August 10, 2009

Crayon Tutuorial

I made my melty rainbow crayons yesterday. I've been trying to figure out how to make these for awhile. I toyed with a lot of things like microwaving and using a double boiler. This is the best outcome I've had with the least burns, because melted crayon BURNS. One thing I'm going to tell you before I start the tutorial is DON'T LEAVE THEM IN THE OVEN TOO LONG. You know what burnt crayons smell like? They smell like stank.

Anyway, we used to make these in elementary school when I was little. One of my teachers would keep broken crayons in a big tub in her room and a couple of times a year we got to help her make rainbow crayons. I decided to make some for M for Christmas, since she won't use broken crayons. It's really simple.

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Make sure there is no paper left on your crayon remnants.
  3. Put a few crayon pieces in each cup of a mini muffin tin, or you can use silicone baking cups. I used both and took pictures because I love all of you that much.
  4. Put your crayon muffins in the oven and bake for THREE MINUTES. If you check on them at three minutes and they are still solid, leave them in the oven and check them every minute. Remember what I said about the stank? This step is critical.
  5. When they are melted remove them from the oven as carefully as possible. The more you move the pan, the more the colors will combine. You want that nice rainbow color, so try to keep the colors from mixing too much on removal.
  6. Set the pan down and leave the room until the crayons cool. Resist the urge to stir the crayons, or poke them with your finger, or jiggle the pan. I can't make them without touching them when they're still hot, so I always leave the house for awhile so I'll leave them alone. I know, it's sad.
  7. After about an hour the crayons should be cooled and hardened again. Pop them out of the pan or silicone cups and color away!




Have fun with your crayon making!

6 comments:

Michele said...

VERY cool!! The end result is awesome - I'm sure your little girl is going to love them. For some reason, I am reminded of making suncatchers when I was a little girl - little bits of rainbow plastic in metal molds? Sound familiar? Good times. :-)

Sara said...

I used to make those suncatchers! I forgot all about them. Hmmm....maybe M would like to make them when she's a little older.

Sara said...

Awesome gift idea! What kid doesn't like crayons...mixed together...in a HEART shape? You're the coolest mom ever :)

Sara said...

The heart was all my idea!! :)

Kelly said...

awesome! I will have to try this!

Kelly said...

oh, but I have no heart shapes, and that makes me sad :(