Recycled Crayons

My son was interested in making new crayons out of his old broken ones.  I’ve worked with melted crayon at summer camps, and used melted crayon wax in candy molds, but melting wax in a double boiler on the stove or possibly in the microwave and pouring hot wax is not kid friendly for my first grader.  Today I picked up a silicone baking mold with a 50% off coupon at the craft store and it worked beautifully.  My son had a hands-on experience without handling any hot wax and felt full ownership over his new star shaped crayons.  

Supplies:

• old broken crayons with wrappers removed
• silicone baking mold
• cookie sheet
• toothpicks

old crayons start melting

Detailed Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 175 degrees.

• Peel the wrappers off and brake crayons into small pieces to fit the mold.

• Place pieces of crayon in the mold, set on cookie sheet.  (the mold will be very flexible, so it will sit on the cookie sheet throughout the melting and cooling process.)

• Melt crayons in oven for about 20 minutes until fully melted – place the cookie sheet and mold on the bottom shelf in the oven and turn on the light to allow your child to monitor the melting process.

• Carefully take the mold and cookie tray out of the oven.

• Pop any air bubbles that have come to the surface with a toothpick.  You may also swirl the colors with the toothpick to get a marbled effect.   

• Once the mold is cool enough to handle and the melted crayon has set, finishing setting crayons in the freezer for 10 minutes.

• After the crayon has set all the way through, pop the crayon out of the mold.

molten wax crayons hot from the oven

Enjoy drawing with your new crayons!

Upcycled Sewing: Blue Jean Apron

This is an easy sewing project and a great way to transform an old pair of blue jeans into something new and useful.  My son loves to reuse things so this is right up his alley.  I first made these when I had just started teaching art.  The kids loved wearing them.  The heaviness is great for working with really messy materials.  I made a whole slew of them for my students and hung them on peg racks on the wall of my classroom.  They were both decorative and functional! 

You can make two aprons from one pair of jeans.  The leg becomes the length of the apron and the back pocket becomes the bib.  I’ve tried lots of different things for straps and my favorite is gross grain ribbon.  Once the apron is put together kids can also enjoy turning this blank canvas into personalized apparel by painting their own unique design on the bib if they’d like. 

Materials:
Old pair of blue jeans
A good pair of scissors
thread
1” gross grain ribbon
pins
sewing machine
fabric paints (optional)

Directions:

1.       Cut off one leg of the jeans (as if you were making short cut off shorts.)

2.       Cut the seam between the two back pockets and the seam long the side of the hip for the bib.

3.       Cut along the seam down the pant leg you already cut off.

4.       Trim the panel from the pant leg from the top, raw edge so it is an appropriate length for the person who will be wearing the apron. (The hem that used to fall at the ankle will become the bottom edge of the apron.)

5.       Clean up the edges where the bib and apron will meet so they line up.

6.       Hem the top raw edge of the pant leg by foldint it twice and sew it into place. 

7.       Place the bib in the center of the top of the leg panel with the pant leg overlapping the bib by about an inch.  And sew straight across the layers.

8.       Cut a piece of ribbon to fit around the waist of the person who will be wearing the apron plus some for tying. To determine the length of ribbon for the waist I measure their waist and add 40 inches (20 for each side of the apron).  This leaves plenty of room to tie a bow and room to grow.  Sew this ribbon across the waist covering the seam you made between the bib and the length of the apron.

9.        Cut two ribbons for the top of the apron bib.  I use 26 inches of ribbon at each corner of the top of the bib and tie it to fit so I can loop the apron over my head and it fits nicely.  Then it can be hung when not in use and doesn’t need to be retied each time I wear it.  I cut 20 inches for a child’s apron.  Sew them in place.

10.   Cut the ends of your ribbons at an angle to prevent them from unraveling.

11.   Decorate your bib as you choose to make it uniquely yours!