Published by EverParent Staff
December 30th, 2011

By: C. Bach

Making candles out of crayons can be a fun activity for the family. Children will enjoy the fact you’re using their used-up or broken crayons to create something new. Just make sure that an adult is doing the wax melting part since we don’t want anyone getting burned.

First you will want to get all your materials ready ahead of time.

• Crayons – you may want to separate into dark and light colors or individual colors.

• Wick – you can buy these at craft store, use common packing string, or use a long thin candle. Avoid wicks made with lead, as the wick burns it can emit lead into the air.

• Mold or glass vase – you can cut a milk or juice carton about 6 or 7″ from the bottom, use a jar, or purchase a mold at a craft shop.

• To melt the wax you will need a sauce pan and coffee can (double boiler), or you can purchase plastic bags for wax melting at a craft store which you place in boiling water.

• Paraffin wax – optional.

Now that we have everything we will need, let’s do a little prep work before we begin melting the wax. Take your wick (string) and cut it 2 or 3 inches longer than your mold. Tie one end to a button, nut, washer or something to add some weight so it doesn’t float in the liquid wax. Tie the other end to the middle of a pencil. You’re going to center this over your milk carton or whatever else you chose to use as a mold. Another option is to place a long thin candle in the center of the carton to use as the wick.

Now we need to melt the wax. You can do this in a plastic wax melting bag or by boiling water in a sauce pan and placing a coffee can in the center. Put the can in the water before you start boiling just to make sure you don’t overflow the pan. After the water is boiling you can reduce the heat.

If you are only using crayons place them in the can and begin melting.

If you are using paraffin wax along with some crayons. Melt the paraffin wax first and then add the crayons.

Take the melted wax/crayons and carefully pour it into your mold. You have to let the wax cool completely (it’s best to let it sit overnight) then cut and peel your carton away and you now have a candle. As an alternative, pouring wax into a glass vase will create a layered look to your candle if you use different colors, and will create a fun decorative candle.

If you want to get creative there are several things you can do.

You can put ice cubes or crushed ice in your mold before you add the melted wax, or add ice cubes as you’re pouring in the wax. This will give you some neat Swiss cheese type designs but you have to be careful since they can be a little fragile. Also watch that you don’t use ice pieces that are too large or your candle may fall apart when you try and take it out of the mold.

You can pour melted paraffin wax a little at a time into your mold. Alternate the adding of wax and crayons. Since the wax is hot, the crayons melt slowly and can make some interesting designs.

Some tips for making candles out of crayons:

• Washable crayons don’t work well for making candles!

• Unlike actual candle wax, crayon wax does not evaporate. Make sure that you burn the crayon candle in a deep dish to catch all of the melting wax.

• If you make the candle entirely out of crayons it may not burn very well. The pigment in the colors can clog the wick. This is where using a thin candle as a wick comes in handy or if your just making them as a decoration then you’ll be fine.