I am making crayons!

[KTMom91]

I noticed that the crayon bin at childrens' church was full of little pieces that no one would touch, so I sorted the good ones from the crumbs. I mentioned my project to our childrens' pastor, who just happened to have a machine that melts the little pieces and makes whole crayons. The three year olds and I were peeling crayons before Sunday School, so we could have "rainbow crayons" to color with.

It really is a cool machine. So far I've made pink/blue/purple and yellow/green/orange rainbow crayons. I have a quart ziplock filled with broken pieces, so there are many possible color combinations.

 

[Shari]

Awesome. This actually sounds fun!

 

[susiestar]

I wondered about those machines. I always put them in a muffin tin and melted them in the oven. Not nearly as cool!

 

[Wiped Out]

easy child used to have one of those machines or maybe it was difficult child? In fact, it still may be downstairs!

 

[gcvmom]

Neat-o!

 

[Hound dog]

Ok. That is mega cool. Most especially when I have 2 and 4 yr old who have trouble with breaking crayons. At present with back to school sales.......I stocked up on Crayola 24 count at Walmart for 22 cents ea. I bought 4 boxes for Aubrey, and 4 for Darrin. Plus easy child bought a bunch. Both kids love to color and will spend hours at it.

So.........for when back to school sales stop........What's this machine called and how do I find one? I always hate wasting broken crayons.

 

[Marguerite]

I've been using crayon pieces to colour candle wax and make multi-coloured candles. You colour it, then pour the wax into ice cube trays. When set, tip the cubes out and keep them in the candle-making box. At some future point when making more candles, we set up the candle mound with wick etc as usual, then fill the mould with different coloured wax pieces, then melt and pour over plain wax. End result - a rainbow candle that hopefully will drip different colours as it melts.
Another option - get a hot needle and thread the different coloured wax cubes onto the wick. Then dip the end result to give you a lumpy-shaped white candle which should drip multi-colours as it burns.

Marg

 

[WhymeMom?]

What great ideas! I always hated to throw out those unused portions of crayon, but they were really difficult to use. What does the melting machine look like?
I can remember buying brand new crayons every year at the start of school......loved to color!

 

[Star*]

KT - that was incredibly clever of you!!!!! Kept everyone busy, hands busy, and made something useful!

RECYCLER OF THE WEEK AWARD goes to you!

I too made muffin tin hand sized crayons - Dude liked those better because he pushed so hard the small ones broke.

 

[KTMom91]

It's a Crayola Crayon Maker. Our Childrens' Pastor said he got it at a yard sale. I have learned that there are certain brands of crayons that don't melt properly, or don't harden after they've been melted. I didn't realize it really did make a difference just because the directions said to use ONLY Crayolas...just figured they were making sure you only used their crayons in the first place! The good part is that if you mess it up somehow, you can remelt it and try again!