There is nothing more satisfying than coloring with new crayons. Unbroken, beautifully sharp, and you haven’t had to pick away at the paper label yet to get to the crayon stub underneath. Such a lovely experience.

Sadly, crayons don’t stay that perfect for long. They snap, dull, and get rubbed away. However, before you toss those crayon nubs, consider creating new crayons with them with this easy tutorial for making your own twist up crayons.

I like this technique, because unlike many techniques I have seen, this one doesn’t involve actually melting crayons in a pot or bowl, which would be impossible and annoying to clean. 

NOTE: While the internet seems to be up in the air as to whether crayons are toxic when melted, I recommend having the fan of the stove on during this project, just in case. I also had the window open and didn’t experience any problems. 

Supplies:

  • Crayons
  • Empty twist containers (glue sticks, deodorant tubes, lip balm or lip stick containers)
  • Metal cans
  • A pot of water
  • Stove
  • Recommended: rubber gloves for handling warm cans
  • Optional: silicone molds for shaped crayons, skewer/pencil/scissors for cleaning 
  • If using deodorant tube: hot glue gun and glue
  • If adding labels: scrap paper, clear tape, writing utensil 
1. Gather empty containers. You can use any container or tube that has a twisting mechanism (deodorant, lip balm, lip stick, glue sticks, etc.). I kept a box on my desk and threw the containers in when they were empty. Once I had enough, I made a big batch of crayons.


2. Clean out the containers. To do this, I used a wooden skewer to scrap out the leftover goo. If there is still residue, you can soak the pieces in water and then wipe clean as best you can. It’s okay if there is a little left on.
3. Let containers dry. Now you can start on the crayons.
5. Gather whatever crayons you have laying around the house. I had various odds and ends from different packs including some that were so old they were literally deteriorating. These worked especially well in melting. Shown in the picture are pumpkin ring crayons. I recommend not using such crayons as they take a lot longer to help than typical tube crayons, even when broken in pieces.
5. Begin breaking the crayons into manageable pieces. The small the pieces, the quicker they will melt, but don’t stress out if you can’t get them very small. I broke most of mine into 2 or 3 pieces, which worked just fine. You can sort them by color if you choose. Mixing colors gets a little tricky as it usually turns into brown if mixed while melting.
6. Once your crayons and tubes are ready, pour water into a pot so that the bottom of the pot is covered with about 2-3 inches of water. Depending how long you melt for, you may need to add more water later.
7. Place pot in water on low to medium heat. Put cans in pot of water. Make sure there is not too much water in the pot otherwise the cans will bob too much and may flip over.

8. Throw in some crayons and watch them melt. 

For Lip Balm/Glue Stick Crayons:

9. Once the crayons are sufficiently melted (see what I mean about those damn pumpkin crayons), make sure the twisting mechanism in your container is all the way down. Then, carefully pour the wax into the container.
10. Allow to harden. 

For Deodorant Crayons:

For deodorant crayons, there is an extra step. You will need a hot glue gun for this.
Once the container is clean, pop out the insert. Fill all of the holes with glue to seal in the melted wax. Leave the center hole open for the twisting mechanism.
Insert the inner piece back into the tube and twist all the way down. Now you can fill with melted wax.

For Silicone Molds: 

You can also use silicone molds or other fun containers for shaped crayons. Just be sure you can easily pop the crayon out once it hardens. This is way silicone molds work so well.
Simply pour the melted wax into the mold, give ample time to harden, then pop them out.

For Multi-Colored Crayons:

If you want your crayons to be multi-colored, I recommend melting the wax in separate cans then pouring them into the mold/container together. Using this method, you can do different layers, dots, or swirls. Mixing the wax in the can often just leads to brown crayons. 

To Add Labels: 

Once you have all of your crayons finished, you can make labels for them if you wish.
To do this, measure a piece of scrap paper to fit around the tube.
Design your label.
You can even use the crayon to color the label for extra accuracy.
Attach the label with a strip of clear tape. Ready to color!