Those Pesky Broken Crayons.....

......You know all about them. The ones that are cast aside in anticipation of a new 64 color box....you know...the one with the sharpener in the back. Well, that was always the one I was holding out for. I think today though, the must have box now has 96 crayons but I could be wrong. Well, anyway, let me get back to the topic: broken crayons. There are abundance of them in the abandoned office next to me at work. Fellow counselors, teachers and other staff frequently cast aside their broken lot when newer, better, more youthful crayons come their way. No judging here as I too am guilty of trading up.

My interest in these castaways was raised because last weekend I attended a workshop of sorts for Art Therapists to learn some new crayon techniques. The techniques both called for unwrapped crayons. While working, I immediately thought to the arsenal of Crayolas and Rose Arts that are stashed away next door to me at work. Monday morning on my break, I unwrapped a bunch and took them home to up-cycle. After even more research on the topic of older crayons, I decided to get a bit ambitious and melt down the bunch by color and make cuter, cooler once again NEW crayons.

First, I separated by like colors using a muffin tin. As you can see, I put similar shades together because when melting, the colors will mix up.



Next, using a double boiling technique, I placed like colors into the soup cans to melt. Prior to placing the can in the water, i bent the can to form a tiny spout so the wax would pour easier. While melting, I experimented with putting glitter into the hot wax. The best result I got was when I put the glitter in after I removed the can from the pot.



Once the can was out, I used a pot holder and carefully poured the wax into candy molds. I purchased mine from Candyland Crafts and they arrived seriously within 3 days of purchase! Sweet! Once they were all filled, I put them in the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes. When cooled, they really did just pop out of the mold with zero mess.



Final product! I am really jazzed about how they turned out. They will be coming with me to work on Monday. Hopefully the younger kids I work with will get a kick out of them. I know I sure did.