Use Old Crayons to Make Crayon Candles.
Any house with children is bound to have crayons. Inevitably these crayons will be broken into small pieces making it difficult for children to use for coloring. Instead of throwing the crayons out, recycle them into a fun adult-supervised craft project. The crayons can be melted and used to create colorful and unique crayon candles.
Instructions
1. Gather up the old crayons and have the children remove all of the paper. The paper will interfere with the candles so it is important that the crayons be free of their paper wrapping.
2. Find glass jars to use for the candles–old baby food, pickle and jelly jars are good choices.
3. Cut the candle wicks so that they are slightly taller than their respective jars.
4. Tie the top of the candle wick to a pencil and then place the pencil over the top of the jar. You don’t want to hold the wick until all of the wax dries. The pencil will hold the wick in place freeing you up to make other candles.
5. Place a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil.
6. Place the unwrapped crayons into a wax boiling bag. These bags can be purchased at your local craft store, and they make the cleanup process much easier. You will not have to worry about removing wax from your good pots; simply throw away the bags after you are done with your crayon candle project.
7. Mix and match the crayons in the bags to create unique color arrangements. If you want purple but don’t have purple crayons, mix red and blue. You can also boil individual colors in separate bags to use for layering colors in a later step.
8. Check to see that the crayons have completely melted. Once they have melted, you are now ready to start pouring the candle wax into your prepared jars.
9. Carefully pour the candle wax into the jars. This is where you can get creative and mix and match colors. If you’re making holiday-themed candles, mix orange, yellow and white for a candy corn themed Halloween candle. For Fourth of July, place blue on the bottom, white in the middle and red on top.
10. Let the candle jars sit until the wax has completely cooled off and is solid. This will vary depending on the size of the jar but it is a good idea to wait at least 24 hours.
11. Decorate the crayon candle jars with a bow, stickers or glitter to match the candle’s theme.
