COLOUR ME WITH CRAYONS – A WAXY RECIPE TO MAKE YOUR OWN AT HOME

Bring magic and colour into your home and make your own crayons whether you have kids or not.  It’s not a hard recipe but you will need to stay focused. For instance, avoid watching Netflix while you make your own crayons.

More than ever, we are more inclined to making our own things from home, whether it’s eco-friendly cleaning products, creating or using zero waste items, etc.

One of the benefits from Covid-19 and being quarantined was that we have found creative ways in keeping ourselves busy when we were not working.  Don’t tell me you didn’t clean out your pantry, closets and used the time for some home improvements and testing out new recipes!

In any case, I don’t know how nor why, but I found the following recipe to make crayons at home thanks to Squirrelly Minds (probably through Pinterest).

It’s not hard to make crayons, but the process can take some time. Afterward, gift them to your nephew or niece, or use them yourself for pleasure or therapy.

Everyone has a colorful life.  You have to get out your crayons. 

Benay Nordby

Material to make crayons

You should probably have the following materials at home.

• 1 Pot;
• 6 Glass jars;

If you don’t have any, there is no need to go out and buy them.  Just use spaghetti sauce, jam or yogurt jars.   From having made crayons a few times now, it’s best to use a small jar.

• Measuring cups;
• 3 Ice cube trays;

Squirrelly Minds recommended using these ones.  They work well in length and thickness to make crayons. Also, the silicone bottom makes them easy to get out and not break if you didn’t make them thick enough.

• Long spoons or something long enough use to stir. 

I used these ones since I had them at home.  They were the perfect length and easy to clean up.  I used a different one with each colour.

List of ingredients

The ingredients to make this recipe can’t be found at a supermarket.  I went to COOP Coco in Montreal to get mine.  I’m lucky because they are not far from my house. 

I forced my husband, Blondie Bear, and my dogs to come with me so that we could do a family outing at the same time.  You know how the saying goes: “killing 2 birds with 1 stone”.

Their website allows you to order the ingredients you need for this recipe.  Otherwise, you can look for them on Amazon or find a local store that specializes in selling natural raw materials.

What you’ll need:

• Beeswax beads (¾ cup or 6oz or 170gr)
• Cocoa or Kokum butter (2tbsp)
• Carnauba wax (6tbsp)
• Natural pigments (1tsp for up to 5 different colours) 

I bought 4 natural pigments at COOP Coco Montreal and used Tumeric as the 5^th one. Pigments don’t come cheap and prices can vary between 4$ to 14$ approximately.

Therefore, I bought the cheapest I could find: Ultramarine Blue, Dark Red Oxide, Ultramarine Violet and Black Oxide.

Tumeric is an ingredient I often use when cooking and it produces a very nice golden color.  You can also use it to dye clothes.  Also, you could use coffee and cocoa powders to make brown crayons.

Steps to make crayons

• Make a double boiler using a pot and a jar. 
• Place water in the pot and then the jar filled with the wax.

In fact, I used this technique to heat up baby bottles or homemade baby food for my kids when it came down to mealtime.  

TIP: Start with the carnauba wax as it takes longer to melt than beeswax. 

• Once the wax has pretty much melted, add the cocoa or kokum butter and then beeswax beads.  Stir occasionally until everything has melted.

This should be done over medium to low heat.

• While the mixture is melting, prepare your glass jars. Add 1tsp of piment in each jar.

• Pour ¼ cup of the liquid in each glass jar.  You need to mix quickly and thoroughly.
• Then, pour it into your ice cube tray.

Each mixture should give you enough to make 1 or 2 crayons, depending on how thick you want it to be.  Obviously, that is not what I did on my first attempt.  Lesson learned for the next time.

• Once all the different colours have been poured into the ice cube trays, put them somewhere to cool off and dry for a few hours.  It took a little over 2 hours for mine to be ready. 

TIPS:

• Use jars that aren’t too tall which will make it easier to pour the wax out quickly before it dries. 
• Also, put the pigment jar in the hot water of the pot when you add the wax to it.  This way, it gives you more time to mix and makes the wax melt fast.
• Gently remove them from the trays or else they might crack.  Actually, mine cracked because I didn’t make them thick enough.

They are now ready to use at home or to use as gifts! You can even buy them in my shop right HERE.

Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.

Al Hirschfeld

Clean up time

The cleaning part is the more tedious side to the recipe. 

You can’t pour wax down your drain as it will clog it.  Instead, discard the harden part in your compost and the waxy water in your garden.  The key is to put everything in boiling water to soften the wax and wipe off with a reusable rag or towel.

Inexpensive way to make your own crayons

Colouring is fun no matter what your age. It helps with anxiety issues, improves focus and motor skills; that’s just some of the benefits.

If you have broken Crayola crayons laying around at the bottom of a drawer or in a pencil case, don’t thrown them away. Do this instead: give them a second life. It’s super easy, really, as they are made of wax. You can melt them!

The steps

• Remove the paper wrapping if they still have it.
• Place your Crayola crayons in a silicone tray that is oven-friendly such as one for muffins.

• Place the tray in the oven and heat at 300F until the crayons have melted.
• Once melted, pour the mixture in a silicone ice cube tray like the one mentioned above or something similar. Let it harden and then, they are ready to be used again!

Have these recipes made you want to try another one? If you like to work with beeswax, you could make your own sandwhich wraps or check out THIS book for more ideas.

Another recipe that is fun and actually easy to make is Playdough with Jello. It’s kid-friendly too!