How to Make Scented Pencils

Making your own gourmet scented pencils is an easy craft for children of all ages. After you master the scented pencil technique, you can experiment with an entire bouquet of scents and colors. This craft uses instant drink mixes to make a scented watercolor paint for decorating pencils. The pencils will retain their scent after drying and may be scratched to release a stronger smell.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Instant drink mix in cherry, lemon, orange, watermelon and grape
• Muffin tin
• Unfinished wood pencils
• Paintbrush
• Wax paper
• Perfume
• Scented essential oils
• Acrylic paints
• Vanilla, Peppermint, Rum, Chocolate, Coconut and Almond extracts
• Ribbon

Making Scented Paint for Pencils

1. For fruit-scented pencils, place two tbsp. of one drink mix flavor in the cup of a muffin tin. Add two tbsp. of water and mix well. Continue with each flavor of drink mix in a different muffin cup.

2. Lay the pencils on wax paper. Paint each pencil a solid color of one paint flavor. Leave the pencils on the wax paper until they dry. Roll the pencils over and apply a second coat of the same scent of paint.

3. For floral- and spice-scented pencils, place two tbsp. of acrylic paint in a muffin tin. Add a tsp. of essential oil or perfume to the acrylic paint, and mix it in. Paint different pencils with the new scented paints and let them dry.

4. For scented pencils that smell like baked goods, mix one tsp. of vanilla extract with two tbsp. acrylic paint. Paint the pencils and let them dry. Continue with each desired scented extract.

Tips & Warnings

• Give a bouquet of scented pencils as a gift. Make a variety of scented pencils with complementary smells, like all fruits or all baked goods. Gather an odd number of scented pencils in a bunch and secure with a ribbon.
• Avoid getting the pencils wet after painting, because the paint may come off. Do not put the pencils in your mouth after painting.

[hegofste]

on 10/23/2009 What brand of drink mix do you use?