Swirled Melted Crayons Pendants

Melting crayons is a fun activity for kids and adults alike and lets you use any leftover, broken crayons instead of throwing them away. This particular project is for adults and older children, because it requires the use of an oven and a certain level of precision. You can create different patterns, use different colors and transform ordinary crayons into fashionable accessories.

• a variety of colorful crayons
• Empty pendants and cabochons
• transparent nail polish
• superglue
• knife, tweezers, toothpicks
• working oven and baking tray

Choose your crayons and using a knife, cut a small pile of shavings.

Bigger pieces will take longer to melt and can't be arranged into patterns, so it's best to use small pieces.

Use your fingers or some sort of tool, like tweezers to fill the empty pendant with shavings, arrange them in a desired pattern and gently transfer onto a baking tray.

Put the tray with your pendants in the oven at 300°F and 'bake' until crayons are all melted. It takes 20-40 seconds usually, so keep an eye on them and take them out as soon as they are liquified. Some crayons can burn if left in the oven too long.

When they are out, it won't take long for them to solidify, so this is your time to use a toothpick and swirl the colors around. You can also add more crayon shavings to create another pattern.

When removing the pendants from the oven, be very careful, so you don't jostle the tray and slosh the melted crayons.

If you are using pendants without glass cabochons, you can use a transparent nail polish to protect the design. Top coat would be even better as it dries harder. Several thin layers will do the job.

Pendants with glass cabochons have to be glued with a fast drying transparent glue. I used extra strong superglue and it worked great.

The reason you need to use a fast drying glue is because when melted crayons solidify, they form a bit of a concave, which can result in air bubbles. To prevent air bubbles and uneven surface, once the glue is applied and glass cabochon is placed on top, you have to use your fingers to apply constant pressure to the glass until the glue dries...hence the fast drying glue.

Use small pendants as earrings by removing the ring and gluing blank earring findings to the back.

You can use larger pendants to make a broch or a hair clip.