Photos/How-to: making muffin-paper crayons.
As a little burrito, I remember making round, easy-to-grasp crayons from broken crayon bits in an old muffin tin. After saving most of Laurel's broken crayons until I had a small plastic container full, I decided to do try it myself using a dollar-store muffin tin. My local dollar store didn't have any in stock, so I decided to try it using muffin papers (better known as baking cups) on a baking sheet instead.
Many recipes I found online recommend making them in a 200-225 degree oven. My crayon bits were still firm after 25 minutes at 225, so I bumped the thermostat up incrementally and checked every five minutes until they finally melted. I got the quickest melt between 300 and 325 but the wax seemed to vaporize slightly at 325; I felt waxy steam when I opened the oven after the second batch was ready to take out. (The oven smelled a bit like crayons the next time I heated it up, but it hasn't affected anything I've made since.) Also, there was a small amount of wax left on the baking sheet under where I had used paper baking cups that scrubbed off easily under hot water.
The first batch of crayon bits, roughly sorted by color, ready to go into the oven.
Fresh out of the oven, the fully melted wax was surprisingly translucent.
By now, the wax is mostly solid but needs a few more minutes before being turned out of the papers -- the wet spot at the top of the pink crayon in the front row is from where I gently touched it to check on how solid they were.
Two batches of crayons, twenty-four in all, turned out of the papers and rubbed smooth along the edges where the molten wax had 'climbed' up the sides of the paper.
Before, the box in the photo was filled with broken crayon bits. Now, Laurel alternately calls them circle or cupcake crayons.
Many recipes I found online recommend making them in a 200-225 degree oven. My crayon bits were still firm after 25 minutes at 225, so I bumped the thermostat up incrementally and checked every five minutes until they finally melted. I got the quickest melt between 300 and 325 but the wax seemed to vaporize slightly at 325; I felt waxy steam when I opened the oven after the second batch was ready to take out. (The oven smelled a bit like crayons the next time I heated it up, but it hasn't affected anything I've made since.) Also, there was a small amount of wax left on the baking sheet under where I had used paper baking cups that scrubbed off easily under hot water.
The first batch of crayon bits, roughly sorted by color, ready to go into the oven.
Fresh out of the oven, the fully melted wax was surprisingly translucent.
By now, the wax is mostly solid but needs a few more minutes before being turned out of the papers -- the wet spot at the top of the pink crayon in the front row is from where I gently touched it to check on how solid they were.
Two batches of crayons, twenty-four in all, turned out of the papers and rubbed smooth along the edges where the molten wax had 'climbed' up the sides of the paper.
Before, the box in the photo was filled with broken crayon bits. Now, Laurel alternately calls them circle or cupcake crayons.