This project is inspired by a Finnish New Year's Eve tradition, where one would receive a small chunk of Tin cast in the shape of a horse shoe, and this would be melted over a flame. The liquid metal would then be poured in a bucket of cold water to cast a completely random shape, and the resulting shape is thought to be a telling of one's future, in terms of luck, health, or wealthiness.

This was such an interesting tradition to me, but I did not have any tin horseshoes laying around my house :) So I re-imagined this, re purposing old crayons that I just don't use anymore. The experience was fun and entertaining, using only materials I already had laying around!

I do definitely want to give credit to Kin Community on YouTube and specifically Mr. Robert Mahar, as they made a video that introduced me to this tradition I had never heard of before. You can find that here: Finish Fortune Telling

Step 1: Gather Some Old/or Unloved Crayons :(

I gathered about 50 crayons that were broken, unwrapped, or just crayons that I wasn't going to use anymore, and then I peeled the wrappers off of the ones that still had them.

You only need around 5 to make about 5 castings or 1 big one

Step 2: Other Things You Will Need

You will also need:

A baking sheet or tray
A piece of foil
A bowl
Plastic cup
Cold water

Step 3: Making a Foil Bowl to Melt the Crayons

Construct a bowl with your piece of foil and the bowl. Do this by gently pressing the foil around the inside of the bowl and make sure there are no holes. We are doing this because the melted crayons will be too messy to use a regular bowl which would probably have to be tossed

Step 4: Melting/Pouring the Crayons

1. Break down your crayons into smaller sections and put them into your foil bowl

2. Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit, and melt the crayons for about 5-6 minutes depending on your oven. I melted about 5 crayons and this took 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

Step 5: Casting Your Shapes

Working very quickly (the crayons will harden very fast), pour the liquid crayons into a plastic cup with cold water in it. You can cast a big shape or use a disposable spoon to make little ones (I find these easier to "read")

Then fish these cooled shapes out of the water with a utensil or your hands.

NOTE: The foil bowl with the crayons will be HOT HOT HOT!! Don't do what stupid me did because you will burn yourself if you touch the bowl without gloves

Step 6: Reading Your Fortune!

Once you've fished out all of your shapes and figures you can lay them out somewhere and analyze them or cast shadows with them onto a wall and interpret the shadows instead. These interpretations are subjective and up to you!

I thought that 2 of the castings I made happened to look like colorful and probably poisonous mushrooms, possibly implying my bad luck and the way I will pass. Then another 2 of the castings I made happened to look like landscapes and building silhouettes, so I interpreted these to mean that I might have the chance to visit famous places in the future.

I want to make it clear that I am in no way saying or advocating that this method is accurate in any way, or that anything you "read" in these crayon figures will actually happen. This is just for fun :)