Easy homemade crayons| COCOÉCO blog

Turn beeswax into works of art

“There’s nothing to doooooo!” Anyone with children in their lives has surely heard this phrase before. While it has been scientifically proven that boredom is actually good for development, it’s hard to convince little ones of the merits of the occasional ennui… and hard to stay sane yourself when they’re clamouring for something to do! Happily, we’re here to help with our latest recipe for DIY crayons: Hoorayons!

Not only will these homemade crayons provide hours of creativity, focused imagination, and art for your refrigerator, the recipe is easy and kid-friendly. So, set aside a crayon day and whip up your own box of rainbow wax. Kids will be doubly proud to show off the masterpieces they coloured with crayons they made themselves!

Get ready to say “Hooray for crayons” with Hoorayons, our DIY crayon recipe!

How to make homemade wax crayons

Ingredients

60 g (90.2%) white beeswax beads
2.5 g (3.8%) carnauba wax
2 g (3%) cinnamon red candle colourant chips (equivalent to three chips)
2 g (3%) blue candle colourant chips (equivalent to three chips)

Tools

Pot large enough to fit a wax melting pitcher
Scale, accurate to 0.1 g
Small silicone spatula
Regular-sized silicone spatula
Thermometer
Two wax melting pitchers
Small stainless steel bowl
Round silicone column mold
Wide-mouth mason jar or large glass

Good to know!

This recipe provides quantities for two coloured crayons (or one two-sided crayon). Repeat it with different colourant chips for each colour of crayon you want to create.
If you don’t have colourant chips at home, you can replace them with colored oxides.
Beeswax is hard at room temperature, so it will provide your crayons with the right texture, ensuring they stay solid but colour easily. We strongly advise against replacing it with a different wax.
It’s best not to scent your homemade crayons. Adding essential oils or aromatic essences will alter the texture and hardness of the final product. In addition, as scents are heat-sensitive, they’ll dissipate.
White beeswax helps keeps the product homogenous. You can use premium unrefined beeswax instead, which is yellow in colour. Keep in mind that this will slightly alter the final colour of your wax crayons.
Carnauba wax has a high melting point. In this recipe, it helps increase the crayons’ heat resistance, hardens them, and improves their texture.
You can play with colourants to make crayons in different shades, of course!

Steps to follow

Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.

Prepare the wax:

Weigh the white beeswax beads in a bowl and set aside.
Weigh the carnauba wax in the first wax melting pitcher, then place the pitcher in a pot with an inch of hot water on a burner to melt the wax.
When the carnauba wax has begun to melt, add the white beeswax beads. Stir regularly. Using a thermometer, ensure that the temperature of the wax is maintained at 50 to 80°C until you remove it from the heat.
When the wax has melted, remove the pitcher from the heat and pour half of the mixture into the second wax melting pitcher.
Add the red candle colourant to one pitcher and the blue candle colourant to the other. Stir until the colourant has completely melted and the mixtures are homogeneous. If necessary, return the pitchers to the pot of hot water to melt the colourants.

Make the crayons:

Place the round silicone column mold in a jar or a glass that’s large enough to hold it upright.
Carefully pour the red wax into the first half of the mold. Wait one hour for the wax to cool and harden.
Reheat the blue wax on low heat before pouring it into the second half of the mold. Leave for three hours to harden.
Gently unmold, being careful not to break or crack the crayon. For ease of use, we recommend cutting the crayon in half along the line separating the two colours, using a soap cutter. Or you can choose to keep the crayon as-is for a fun, two-sided crayon.
Your crayon is now ready to use! It’s time to give your imagination free rein and create your masterpieces!