Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Changing table to crayon storage

Gulliver changing tableAlexa shares her changing table/bench cushion hack and how the Plastis ice cube tray makes a fantastic crayon mold for chubby fingers.

She says, "It started with a wall-mounted, Gulliver fold-up changing table (not available on Ikea website), an Apa storage bench, a Chris cork board, and an old dry erase board. (The dry erase markers are also from Ikea.) I had meant to use the changing table as a drawing center, but with raised sides and a wire base, it didn't seem right. So I mounted the pockets on the wall and (will) use the wire part for a sweater drying rack. The changing pad turned out to be as wide as the Apa bench and twice as deep.

So I cut the foam in two, moved the velcro fasteners, and folded the cover in two as well. (Then someone had a late-night crayon session on the nice white fabric of the pockets. I could probably wash it, but that would involve unscrewing the whole thing from the wall.)

crayon mold
We keep art supplies in the bench, and water balloons, a Bob the Builder phone and a white tiger in the pockets. So much for trimming and organizing the crayon collection.

I did use Plastis triangle ice cube trays to melt down and reshape our broken crayon collection, though. I sorted them into a rainbow, put them in tin cans from the recycling bin and melted them in hot water. The shrinkage of the wax as it cools gives a nice dip in the center that makes them easy to hold. There's a significant crayon residue in the trays, but now we use them to make fun shapes for ice sculptures.

7 comments:

  1. Geniuos! A great idea to recycle/reuse your changing table and kudos on recycling your old crayons!

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  2. The crayons were a great idea. I never really thought of melting down crayons to make your own.

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  3. The crayons are gorgeous, we also use these to make glycerin 'melt and pour' soaps for guests.

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. such ideas make me jealous! thanks for your generous sharing.

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  6. I made those, don't like them as they are very messy. The crayons seem to get softer after they are melted, and when dry they smear all over the kid's fingers, they also crumblede all over the floor :(

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