Introduction: Inside Out Crayon Candles

About: I am a conceptual artist, and my DIY projects are mostly inspired by pop culture (movies, music, sports, TV). I mostly specialize in painting, graphic design, drawing, digital photography, performance art, and…

If you're a fan of the new Disney movie Inside Out and love bright colors, then you're going to love this easy (if not easy) candle making project. All it takes is a little bit of hard work to make 5 candles, one for each of the main characters in the movie: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust! This is also a fun project, because you can use old crayons and turn them into colored pigments for candle wax!

Step 1: Materials

This is a shopping list of materials that might be hard to conquer, but for me was totally worth it!

You will need 5 of each of the following...

  • glass candle votives (I bought mine from Michaels for $2 each)
  • candle wicks (also bought from Michael's)
  • colors of crayons (you will need 5 colors for each character: red / blue / yellow / green / purple)
  • computer print-outs of the Inside Out characters

Additional stuff you will need are...

  • candle wax (yet another item bought from Michael's)
  • a microwave-safe container (not pictured)
  • popsicle sticks (for mixing your wax)
  • Mod Podge
  • sponge brush
  • knife (for cutting your wax) (not pictured)
  • X-acto knife

Step 2: Prep Your Candle Wax

To start, carefully shave or slice off a few pieces of candle wax and put it in a microwave safe container.

Step 3: Cut Up Your Crayon

Now, take a crayon, peel off the wrapper with an X-acto knife, break it up into small pieces and add that to your wax.

Pro Tip: Depending on the top of candle wax you buy, you will probably need about a 1/2 cup of wax. That also means you will need to break up at least 5 or 6 crayons. In addition, the wax that I bought is a 1 pound block, which means that 1 block of candle wax will make about 6 candles. For this project, I'm just making 5 of them.

Step 4: Melt the Wax

Now, put your container in the microwave and melt the wax for about 2 minutes. I heated my wax for about 6 minutes since the paraffain wax took a while to melt.

Once time's up, carefully take the container out and mix the wax with a Popsicle stick. If there are some crayon or wax that have not yet been melted, put it back in the microwave for another 30 seconds or until it's ready. It will still be hot anyway once you start mixing everything. Be sure to wear oven mitts, though!

Step 5: Pour Your Wax and Add a Wick

Now, add a wick into your glass votive. Pour the colored wax in the votive and add a Popsicle stick or two on top to make sure the wick stays in the middle and upright. Let harden for about 20 minutes to an hour.

Step 6: Add Character

Once you done that, keep making the rest of your candles, until you have one red, one blue, one yellow, one green and one purple (as shown in the first picture). Once they're set, you can use a sponge brush or small paint brush to Mod Podge a character to your candle (as shown in the second picture). Remember, red is for Anger, blue is for Sadness, yellow is for Joy, green is for Disgust, and purple is for Fear.

Step 7: Done!

And that's how you go from an old pile of crayons into a heaping of colored candle wax! With this craft, you can make 5 of these character-worthy candles and sell them as a $5 set (let's say that each candle would be worth at least $1 to make)! It's a Disney Store worthy steal!