recycled crayon candles

[girlypirate]

i work at a restaurant and it was killing me that we were throwing away so many perfectly good crayons.  so i decided to recycle them and make me a little money too.
materials:
a big mess of crayons
soda cans
candle wicking
saucepan
glue gun
candle molds (i used dixie cups and pringle packs.  be creative.)
paraffin or emergency candles.
razor blade
modeling clay
oven mitts

instructions:
peel the crayons by running a blade down the side and sliding the wrapper off.  this is much faster than trying to peel with your fingers.  believe me.

bust the crayons into several pieces.  cut the tops off of the soda cans.  sort these pieces into color groupings in the cans.

add two emergency candles with the wicks removed or two blocks of paraffin to each can.

prepare your candle molds with wicks.  if you are using improvised molds, hot glue the wick to the inside bottom of the mold.  punch a small hole in the bottom of a plastic mold and cover it with modeling clay.

fill the molds with multi-colored crayon chunks.

fill the saucepan halfway with water and bring it to a simmer.  set the cans into the water gently and allow to melt, stirring gently occasionally.

when the wax has melted, pour over the crayon chunks and allow to cool.

peel away the dixie cup, or remove the modeling clay from the plastic mold and blow into the puncture.  this should cause the mold to release easily.

reinforce the wick on the bottom with more hot glue.

fini!

[littleone1098]

thats friggin awesome! can you post a pic of the finished product?

[iampoison]

They look soo cute ^_^
And it's great that you recycled unwanted crayons.
Since the wax is green when it's melted it looks like crayons in pea soup. It's the kinda green that my grandmother kitchen used to be. ^_^
I agree, please post and image of the pretty candles. 

[girlypirate]

my finished product pic was eated by my cf card.  i'll take a new one tomorrow.

[littleone1098]

woot woot!

[Flip Flop]

those are so cool! what a great idea, i love them

[quarkiegirl]

They're really neat, but do they smell like crayons when you burn them?

[girlypirate]

the scent is neutral, but if you're really opposed to a little crayon smell you can always add scent oil to the melted wax.  i made a few green apple candles like that.  very pleasant.

[Puppy_girl]

that's really cool. 

[Dorkabrain]

Do you work at Macaroni grill? they waste SO many crayons there, every time I new customer comes, they get new crayons.

Awesome candles by the way.

[girlypirate]

no, i work at a neighboorhood restaurant.  most restaurants give out new crayons.  it's crazy.

[rocka_mary]

j'adore!

[candycanechild]

Those are so cool looking!

[athena404]

that is soo cool!!!

[tofuttibreak]

the scent is neutral, but if you're really opposed to a little crayon smell you can always add scent oil to the melted wax..

I love the scent of crayons!

[BlueJeanBaby]

That's really cool!

 I had to comment b/c you used Cheerwine cans. I had never heard of it until my cousin said that she couldn't wait to get some when we went to NC. Everyone loved it but I didn't try it b/c I don't drink carbonation. 

[echoglow]

these are super super neat!

[girlypirate]

bluejean: it's a really awesome soda.  if you get another chance to try it, i suggest taking a little sip.

[brin2lys]

salut, une tres bonne idée de recycler les crayons en bougie, originnalllllllllll leeee
bonne continuation

i love it, i speak french nd a little english   

[girlypirate]

merci beaucoup.

[chocolate_luvver]

thats so kewl i so want to try that nice job

[tinybits]

wow this is so cool!

[msmeow]

That reminds me of mom putting all the little leftover bits of crayons in mini-muffin papers ot melt in the oven.  We'd use them as mulitcollored crayons.  Never thought of making them into candles!

[kona13kloe3]

i heard that when you melt crayons it gives off a nasty stank ....so are the candles acctually functional???

[stepanka]

clever

[endlessly_intricate]

I made one of this a little over a year ago, thanks to the inspiration from this tutorial!

Thought I'd finally post a pic of it:


I love the smell of crayons! 

[Lady Hope]

I can't see pics?!?!
But its a great idea!!

[Miss Dictionary]

As far as smell is concerned,  I've always liked the smell of Crayolas... offbrand crayons tend to smell funny, but I know Macaroni Grill tends to put out the good stuff, and it's back to school season so big boxes of crayons are on sale all over the place.  I could probably scrounge up a big bucket full of all the old crayons floating around my house. Awesome job!

[shubh]

Thanks for sharing this useful technique. It is good not only for saving but also for developing the habit of using our money in the best possible way up to the last. 

[OhThat]

Awesome, I found this at JUST the right time.  I have two buckets FULL of crayons leftover from the end of school for my kids over the last couple of years.  We never have enough candles and this is such a cool fun way to use up those crayons.  Thanks!

[eyeofra]

Genius! I can't wait to try this. A million and one crayons in my craft room. Thank you!
*And diet cheerwine is fav drink, you get bonus points for that*