Last year, with my December Chatelaine, I received a tiny silicone mold with four Christmas-shaped molds in it. We've mostly used it for ice cubes since then; O is a fan.
This year for Christmas, although she doesn't know it yet, O is receiving a refill on her art supplies: new crayons, pencil crayons, markers and chalk. This is partly because she has been using these up like a mad-child with her passion for colouring, but also because I packed up the best and took them with us to Nova Scotia in October, and then left the pencil case behind at Stayner's Wharf Pub & Grill, where I do not recommend the Chicken & Shrimp Hot Pot. Her remaining markers run dry all the time. The remaining pencil crayons are increasingly shorter. The crayons are peeled and broken. The chalk - we still have lots of chalk - is also all broken. A refill is necessary.
I decided to try melting crayons, something I've always heard could be done, and the Christmas-shaped mini molds seemed like the perfect vessel for cooking them down. I had just used the molds on the weekend to make mini chocolate orange muffins, but they didn't pop out well so the shapes weren't decipherable. The crayons, on the other hand, worked perfectly:
I used single colours in the molds, but found some recipes online that call for mixing various colours together (such as). My oven runs cool, so I had to bake the pan for about 10 minutes at 350°F - you may require less time or a cooler temperature - for the crayons to melt. Then I just removed them from the oven and let them cool and harden on the stovetop. They popped from the mold easily (not sure how this would work in a rigid mold).
Even though I used teeny tiny molds, it took a suprising number of crayon chunks to make these. Since I was using a flexible mold, I put it on a flat baking sheet to keep it level when the crayons are all melty. In future, I would put tin foil or parchment paper under the mold to keep the baking sheet clean when the crayons inevitably run.
We're saving these crayons for colouring fun at our upcoming Christmas Eve eve party.
This brings me back. Do you have a pony mold?
ReplyDeleteAha! While reading this I was wondering what you would do with them upon completion, but of course they will still colour. Good idea. I have a memory from childhood of shaving/cutting up crayons and putting them into clear pill bottles, then melting them in the oven. I THINK maybe somehow I put a hole in them and used it as jewellery, but really do not remember. I recently asked Mum about it, as she must have helped, but she does not recall at all. I was older, I guess 8-10 or so, as I know the friend I did this craft with moved and I didn't see her much when a bit older. Who knows.
ReplyDeleteToday, I throw crayons away on a regular basis.
P: I'm assuming your clear pill bottles were made of glass? Which I don't remember ever seeing in real life, just in movies set in the 50s. Ah, The Hours...
ReplyDeletebut I digress.
N: I think that would be a hit in this house, but no.
No, plastic I am pretty sure. On second thought, totally sure. No way could we have melted glass in the oven. At some point plastic pill bottles all started being opaque, only occassionally do I see a clear one these days.
ReplyDeleteI think confusion is arising from not knowing that the pill bottle actually melts as well as the crayons. I think K thought the pill bottle just held the melted bits. Am I right? I kind of remember you doing that Patricia, I think a hole is poked in the crayons necklace while it is still warm. All very vague. Donna
ReplyDeleteYes, Mom, you figured it out - I didn't understand that the bottle was also melting. Got it now.
ReplyDelete