Recycled crayons have been around forever but Boo and I wanted to share our take on them: colorpillars! These are great as a fun weekend project or as party favors and gifts.
We bought our centipede silicone mold from TJ Maxx….they have some really cute ones at Marshall’s too now and then: dinosaur bones, legos, robots, butterflys etc. You could just do an internet search for “silicon ice cube mold” if you are looking for a specific theme.
I keep a Ziploc bag around to collect broken crayons so we always have a supply of them:
Boo and I broke the crayon pieces into small pieces and filled the molds:
I set the oven to 175 degrees and put the crayons in to melt:
It’s a slow process and took about 30 minutes for them to melt entirely. You don’t want to melt them any faster or the colors will become too soupy and turn a brownish color. Once the crayons were melted I removed the pan from the oven and let the mold cool for about 2 hours.
The finished colorpillars! Aren’t they cute?
A few tips!
1. The smaller the bits of crayon….the better the result. It will take less time for the crayon bits to melt and the colors won’t mix as much. Chop them up using a sharp knife.
2. Using the lowest heat possible on the oven is ideal…..you’ll just have to be REALLY patient for the bits to melt. 150 to 175 degrees is recommended.
3. Allow ample time for the crayons to cool so they won’t break as you remove them from the mold.
4. Stay away from washable crayons….they have a wax in them that will float to the top. I use them anyways just in very small amounts.
5. Don’t mix too many colors….in case you end up heating the crayons too much you’ll keep the colors brighter. Mixing across the color wheel results in brownish colors!
6. Quality of crayon can make a difference! I had some cheap dollar store crayons that took too long to melt and left some large chunks. The color seemed duller too.
Great Idea!!!! My grandkids have tons of crayon pieces…going to TJMaxx and look for a mold…great fun for a rainy afternoon….
I just did this a few weeks ago for my son’s Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. It was awesome!!
I am not super crafty but that has to be the coolest art project and I think I can handle it…ha!
Printing it out now!
You guys did a seriously awesome job with those. Very cool!!! 😀
Once when my siblings and I were little, we had a bunch of crayons, actually a ton of them and my mom decided that it would be great to make candles. So my mom spend like an hour or two chopping up these little crayon bits. The end result was that we melted them to fast and they were a terrible brown colour, not pretty at all and also my mom had a pretty large blister on her hand. Ever since that happened I’ve always been a little wary of trying to make things out of recycled crayons. :O But maybe I should give it a try.
I’m off to find these adorable molds! This’ll be perfect for my 4yd, cause she has a habit of breaking up her brand new crayons, as soon as she gets them! Lol! Thanks for the idea!
Awesome colorpillars :).
these are just too cute!!!!
these are too cute!! I will have to head over to Marshalls or TJ Maxx this week to check out the molds!
I LOVE this mold! I’ve done these a few times, and the Crayola bits definitely make for the best results.
Cool!! But how expensive were the molds??
Great project- i can’t wait to try it out!!
If you want to get the paper off faster, soak the crayons in warm water until the paper comes off or starts peel away from the crayon. 🙂 I just bought silcone molds at Ikea, for Homemade baby food, one might have to become the crayon mold instead….
Ashley, this is the craziest thing.. Those silicon molds used t be everywhere.. I can’t find one in the whole town of Topeka. The cake supplie places have quite carrying them, no Target, no dollar stores, no Walmart and no mall. I am doing some resin work and needed some, I had to cave and order a bunch off of ETSY… I might try my TJMAXX.. those “pillars” are adorable. (Have you seen the adult ones).. Funny some people on ETSY are pouring silly resin adult ones… I just wanted hearts, circles, rectangles and such…I wonder if the silicon is now not safe for baking food or something.. It is weird. No Joanns, No Michaels.. just weird that one day they are everywhere then all the sudden gone from bakewear isles.
Just found them on Amazon. Google, my closest friend!
http://www.amazon.com/Fred-Friends-Freeze-Handgun-Shaped-Ice-Cube/dp/B003YUBQKG/ref=pd_sim_k_3
Oops! Those are the funny hand gun ones I found after finding the centipedes! Here’s the real link to them!
http://www.perpetualkid.com/chillipedes-ice-tray.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Fred-Friends-Chillipedes-Cube-Tray/dp/B003YUBQK6
Love these!! Sooo cute! I had the same problem of finding a silicon mold as one person mentioned. I was on the hunt for heart shapes so my 3 year old (Ava) could tie them to her Valentine cards at preschool. I never found and had to use a metal non-stick mold shaped like mini donuts. They came out great! The “O” ended up being the “O” in the word “Love” on her card. We had found these unpainted heart shaped cards at the craft store that were a hard type card stock/paper. They turned out really cute! We made them sparkle with glitter paints and lots of sparkle! I am not sure who had the most fun making. HA! I am for sure headed out to search for the cute molds like you have seen. Fun! Thanks for sharing!
Fun & so very cute! You’re so creative girlie…lucky little boo! :o).
Not sur what happened to my smiley face…haha! 🙂
This is such a cute idea! I’m hoping to try it one day!
Just wondering if it will create toxic fumes that clings on the oven walls?
Generally crayons are non toxic so I wouldn’t think so.
Love this! My grandson and I are always looking for projects to do together. We will start collecting today! Thanks! You are a blessing to me, I pray for you to be healed.
These are so fun. I need my kids to produce some grandbabies for me so I can have some cute little short people around to do these fun projects with. I don’t think my 44 year old Husband would appreciate it as much as a little cub would. 😛 Happy Sunday beautiful lady!
These are so cute!!! We made crayon hearts for Grace’s class for Valentine’s Day… it was a hit!
Gee your oven is so clean. LOL
Hi!
I really love this idea, so I hope that it is ok with you that I shared your link on my German blog?! I wrote that I found it on your website (with a link) and that they should visit your blog.
http://pnutspnuts.blogspot.com/2012/03/wachsmalstifte-aufgepat.html
Greetings from Hamburg!
PS: LOVE your blog!
Crayon pieces… now THAT’S something I’ve got a lot of at home!
Great craft project.
I cannot wait to do this with my daughter Chloie this weekend for a little daddy/daughter time. She is going to love it. Thanks for being so inspirational Ashley. You are certainly an encouragement to so many (including single dads out there). I love the fact that you don’t focus on the problem, but focus on breathing life into others. After all, isn’t that really what we all should be doing? 🙂
What a great idea! My mom and I used to make homemade candles and make them colorful with crayon bits.
Newbie question….
I made these & they turned out great! But – how do you clean the mold of the remnant color for the next batch? Thanks for your thoughts!!!
I wish I’d read your explanation before trying this craft – I was working from another source and they just said 175 for 20 minutes… unfortunately/stupidly I didn’t realise they were working in a different measurement so I boiled my crayons!! I guess American ovens are farenheit and UK are celsius… I’m waiting to see if they’re ruined when they cool. 🙁
Hi,
Can somebody give me a tip on how to remove them from the mold, Because the caterpillar mold is not very flexible and They keep on breaking when taking them out.