Make colorful candles from bits and pieces of crayons.
If you have bits and pieces of old crayons cluttering up your craft drawer, gather them together and make swirly colored candles. Crayons are made from wax and work well as a coloring agent for homemade candles. Add a few crayons to a wax base to create swirls of color throughout the candle. If you have a large amount of old crayons, melt them all together to create small, colorful candles. Commercial candle molds are available at craft stores, but you can also use milk cartons, coffee cans and silicone cupcake tins to make swirly colored crayon candles.
Instructions
1. Remove the paper lables from five crayons and break them into 1-inch chunks. Place 1 lb. of paraffin wax into the top section of a double boiler.
2. Add water to the bottom section of the double boiler and fit the top section over the bottom section. Melt the paraffin over medium heat. When the water begins to boil, the paraffin should melt within 15 minutes.
3. Add the broken crayons to the melted paraffin. Stir the colored crayons into the hot paraffin gently with a wooden spoon. Swirl the colors around in the paraffin to keep them mostly separate, or join them together to make new colored swirls.
4. Spray the candle mold with a commercial candle release agent. A release agent makes it easier to remove the candle from the mold. Omit this step if you are using a milk carton as a mold. You can cut the milk carton away from the hard candle.
5. Fit the wick into the center of a metal mold. If you are using a milk carton or coffee can as a mold, dip the metal base of a wick into the melted wax. Fit the wick inside the center of the candle mold. Brace the wick upright in the mold between two pencils. You can also tie the wick to one pencil and rest the pencil across the mold.
6. Pour the swirly colored wax into the candle mold. Allow the wax to harden; this could take several hours. Remove the swirly colored candle from the mold.
