So, I had These Crayons....

And they were clearly unhappy in their present state. So Star and I turned them into ULTIMATE CRAYONS!We sorted, peeled and then put the pieces into muffin tins.
350 degrees and ten minutes (or so) later we got what looked like muffin tins full of tempra paint. Which, by the way, was SWEET! Watching those crayons melt was pretty satisfying.

Poke...poke.
And the finished, cooled product. They're really very pretty when you can see the swirled colors.


For anyone attempting this on their own, we figured out that:

1. the oven needs to be at about 35o degrees for anything to happen faster than watching grass grow.
2. muffin tins do NOT act like ice cube trays, so the little pucks won't just pop out. There needs to be some serious knife action involved to get them out.
3. Putting them in a cool water bath (while still in the tins to solidify them) or sticking them in the freezer is a good idea.. nay, a GREAT idea. Bordering on genious actually.
4. Using a knife or x-acto blade to scrape the wrappers off is also GENIOUS!
5. This is slightly stinky so make sure everyone at least tolerates the smell of crayons, not to mention the odd scented crayon that sneaks in.
6. In order to clean the silly muffin tins it's better to stick them back in the oven to re-melt the wax and then wipe it off with a paper towel than to use goo-be-gone or scrape it off with a knife. However, if you stick the tins in the oven and then forget about them, the wax WILL create a lovely cloud of smoke with a truely... delectable scent. So be careful, or that burning/crayon/wax smell will take up resedence in your kitchen for the foreseeable future.