8.30.2009
Blended crayons
Kent and I had a little experiment on Friday: we made blended crayons in the oven. I read a tutorial somewhere on the net in the past year, but I can't remember where, unfortunately. I peeled and roughly chopped all his extra restaurant crayons, since they feel softer than Crayolas or Melissa & Doug crayons and I remember reading that it's important to use the same kind of crayon so they melt together easily. I put the different colored bits in mini muffin cups: some with greens, blues, and purples; some with oranges, reds, and yellows; and some with all the colors mixed together. Kent liked helping with that part. I then "baked" them in the oven at 200 F for 20 minutes. I think it might have been too long, but I won't know for sure until I try this experiment again.
I pulled them out after 20 minutes and was very dismayed to see that they looked kind of muted on top (see photo to the right), so I wasn't sure what they would look like when we used them to color. Happily, once they cooled and I popped them out of the muffin tins, I realized that the bottoms looked amazingly cool (see photo at the top), and the tops were just brownish and a softer color because the crayon matter had separated and the thinner part rose to the top. I wonder whether a higher-quality crayon might not separate, or if I leave them in for only, say, 10 minutes, if that would prevent the separation. More experimentation is necessary. Anyone else have experience with this?
The crayons of similar color families make an interesting effect on paper, but it's not as pronounced as the all-color ones. The green-blue-purple ones would be great for coloring an ocean, for example, but it's not as obvious that there are different colors in there. I think I like the all-color ones the best — you can see where I wrote our names at the top in an all-color crayon, and I think it's very cool. If I figure out how to do this better, I know some small people who will be getting some as Christmas gifts. It's way fun to make them and even more fun to color with them.Labels: art, craftiness, photography
- posted by erica 8/30/2009 09:40:00 AM
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Comments:
Erica, We've made crayons like that, too. The washable crayons separate and create that waxy layer and the ones that aren't labeled washable don't. We learned it the hard way, too! Luckily they still work on the other side. -Jean
ooh, those look cool. I feel like I vaguely remember coloring with some sort of crayons like that when I was little. I don't remember being involved in making them, but I'm guessing they were homemade. It also reminds me of soaps my aunt used to make. She'd save all the tiny pieces of bar soap after they got too small to use & somehow put them all together into one new bar. I always thought they were so cool! Or maybe it was candles.. my rememory is broken! ;-)
FYI, I tried them later using Crayolas and leaving them in for only 10 minutes, and they're perfect. No separation. I'd highly recommend 10 minutes, and it might even make cheap crayons do better, too.
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