How to Reuse Crayons Without an Oven
Don't throw out old and broken crayons when you can reuse them. According to the EPA, Americans produced roughly 243 million tons of garbage in 2009. Reduce garbage by preventing materials from entering the waste collection system. One way to reuse crayons is to heat them up and remold them into new shapes. An oven is not necessary as long as you have a stovetop. Any type of mold can be used for this project, such as muffin tins or candy molds, but once you use it for crafts, it is safer to no longer use it for foods.
Things You'll Need
- Stovetop
- Crayons
- Large pot
- Old small saucepan
- Old spoon
- Silicone ice tray
Instructions
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1
Remove any paper wrappers from the old crayons. Break them into smaller pieces if they are larger than 3 inches. Ideally 1-to-2-inch pieces melt more easily.
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2
Pour water into a large pot and place it on the stove at high heat. The large pot acts as a double boiler for the smaller saucepan so must be large enough to accommodate the smaller saucepan.
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3
Place all the broken crayons into an old small saucepan and put it into the large pot. Stir the crayons with an old spoon and heat them until they are completely melted.
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4
Pour the melted crayons into a silicone ice tray. These type of trays come in a variety of shapes, including stars and teddy bears. The wax instantly cools when poured into a mold. You may need to pour in more melted crayons to fill each shape.
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5
Pop out the new crayon shapes from the mold once it has cooled completely, which may take a few hours, depending on the size of the mold. The newly molded crayons work just the same as any other crayon.
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Tips & Warnings
Experiment with different color mixtures for your new molds.
For faster cooling, place the molds with the melted crayons into the freezer for approximately 10 minutes.
Wear oven mitts while working with hot melted crayons.
Glitter and glow-in-the-dark crayons may not work in this project.
References
- Photo Credit Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
