Re-Melting Stockmar Crayons

Melted color goodness!

I had so much fun this weekend. It took way too much time, but to play with melting swirling colors in small pots? Im all over that! I used an old yard sale pot as a double boiler with washed out cans. I did sacrifice my old brocolli steamer but it was worth it. None of these items will ever be usable again for anything but melting wax. I thought I would be all careful (Im a very neat painter) but this was too much to ask - wax gets everywhere, just one drop in the water and its a mess. 

This is years worth of old crayons from the waldorf school I teach at.

The dark brown/red and the 2 blues are the hardest to sort - I had to draw to see the colors.

I used a bamboo skewer to stir the wax as it was melting.  Even though I pulled off the old paper there is still dust/hairs/and dirt that clump together.  The skewer can help pull that out as you swirl the fully melted wax.   I thought (for about 10 seconds) about cleaning them all before melting them but that alone might have taken a week.  I didn't see a change on colors except the lights yellow - it is a bit dinghy but still usable.

I got much better at pouring.

Tips:

Large soup can (like Progressive soup - top red one) are a bit too large - 

when the wax is melting if you don't stir it, it stays as a clump in the center.

Start with the lights color (light yellow) and then you can work towards light orange, dark orange into the reds.

Don't fill the soup cans more than half full -

its harder to pour with control when the can is too full.

Pour the wax to just above the level line, as it does shrink as it cools.

Don't move the mold till the top layer looses its shine - 

I placed my mold on a cookie tray to take it outside to cool so I could pop them out sooner.

If you hold the tips of the cans you can usually pull them out of boiling water with just a paper towel for protection - they are not that hot.  I also waxed up a potholder unnecessarily.

They are not perfect but wow so much more appealing than before.  Also, this mold is longer than the original shape of the wax block crayons.  I have not found anything that I could use to make the stick crayons but it may take a while to gather up old crayons again.