Chunky Crayons

I crafted, on a weeknight. And we had grilled cheese and Spaghetti-o’s for dinner. I do not claim to be THE BUSIEST person on the planet, horrible at time management, yes. I don’t usually do projects on weeknights, I work during the day and by the time I get home I’m tired and done, and if I do do a project my family gets neglected. But I thought this one would be fairly simple. Here’s my “tutorial” because I actually remembered to take some pictures. I got my idea from Amy at the Idea Room. Which is waay more than just making crayons. She is THE WOMAN behind the a-ma-zing felt heart wreaths that were popping up everywhere around Valentine’s Day. I am looking for an excuse to make one, since I slacked off and didn’t make one for Heart Day. Any good ideas?

Making, not from scratch, Crayons. Maybe a more appropriate title would be, Refurbishing Crayons?

{Step One} Peel every single last piece of little paper off of every single crayon. Not my favorite step. Soaking crayons in water for a day really helped.

{Step Two} Brutally chop crayons with THE BIGGEST knife you can find in your kitchen. Or you can just break them up.

{Step Three} Fill muffin tin full with crayon bits (I used a regular sized muffin tin). Thoughts on this step, I bought an old muffin tin at DI for 75 cents because I was worried that my muffin tins might get ruined. In then end I don’t really think it mattered. Second thought, in the end when you color with these crayons they leave little bits (more than regular crayons). I pretty much barely squeaked by in Chemistry, really not my strength. So I can’t tell you if the mess happens because the crayons got too hot in the oven. Or because I filled the cups too full and made the crayons too thick. I tend to lean toward the later because I made a trial crayon that wasn’t as thick and it doesn’t leave crayon crumbs.

{Step Four} I pre-heated the oven to 300 degrees and then baked (do you really “bake” crayons?) them for about 8 minutes or until all the crayons are melted. Let your new and improved crayons cool COMPLETELY, don’t ask me how I know this, but trust me I know.

{Step Five and Other Thoughts} Tap crayons gently out of the muffin tin. I found that a Crystal Light container I had in the cupboard worked perfect for a storage container. They stack up nice and neat inside.