I know that melting crayons and remoulding them is not a new idea, but I’ve not seen this twist on the idea before. Don’t you just love it when you get a flash of inspiration.
Let me start at the beginning. A couple of years ago I bought a silicon flexible mini doughnut mould that was reduced from Lakeland Plastics. I like doughnuts and loved the idea of baking them instead of frying them. Excitedly I rushed off to find a recipe and made my first batch. We dusted them with cinnamon sugar and they were nice, but not a great hit. The mould was put away in the cupboard and left.
Two years later, I was holding a basket of under used crayons and ferreting through the cupboard for a suitable container to melt them in, when out falls the mini doughnut mould. Ping! Kerzow! Gazoo! The perfect solution and more.
So the children set to work removing paper and snapping the crayons. I had pictured multicoloured crayons, but the children decided that they wanted to group them in colours, so that is what they did.
We popped them in the oven at about 270 fahrenheit for 10-15 mins. When the tray came out they reminded me of candles so how could I resist popping a few drops of candle fragrance in each. What can I say, it was a reflex. We left them in the moulds for about an hour and they popped out perfectly.
The crayons smelt great. The colours split out on some of the crayons, but they are surprisingly comfortable to colour with. Each of the children chose four crayons and threaded them on to a piece of wool long enough to reach a piece of paper comfortably. Before they chose, I couldn’t resist seeing how they would look as a rainbow necklace. I think it worked.
When I put the children to bed tonight, I had to persuade each of them to take off their necklaces. As I put my seven year old daughter to bed, she said that she was glad that I was her mummy. My heart melted – a bit like a crayon in an oven.
At the risk of being boring this looks like a great idea too..and as we tend to be swimming in crayon ends…I’ll just have to see what we have in the way of moulds
thanks again…6.57 am really off now… Val (blogging is so much more attractive than chores lol)
Great fun..
I’ve linked to you and blogged our efforts!
forgot the link
http://erasmus-the-cats-cushion.blogspot.com/2010/03/crayon-cookies.html
Hi Val
I love the crayons, especially the bunnies. Watch out, it is addictive. You’ll have no “normal” shaped crayons left!
Hope your little one is feeling better.
Cheryl
I planned to make star crayons recently and bought some moulds at the second hand store, but now I’m not sure if they’re silicone or rubber?!?!?! I don’t want the moulds to melt in the stove too… Any advice?
How sweet of your daughter to say that…
When we did this, the melted crayons got too hot to touch. I think if it is thin plastic then you might find it warps or, even worse, melts. Silicone can handle the temperature. I wouldn’t put my candle or soap moulds in the oven, as I’m sure the all round temperature and length of exposure to heat would warp them. I don’t think I’ve used rubber in the oven, so I cannot comment on what would happen. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
We have this same doughnut mould, also used only once for doughnuts! This is great, definitely going to try with my son who would really like the threading aspect. I also used the mould for making plain and coloured ice rings.
It would be good to find another non-food use for the mould. I’ll have to give the ice rings a go. Thanks.
Hi!
Cool recycling crafts, I really enjoyed having a peek!