Kids: Don't Try This At Home!

I read another cool craft project idea online:  Melting plastic beads.  This one hearkened back to my youth, when I did those old Make-It Bake-It craft kits.  Back then, I would use the leftover plastic pellets and melt them into shapes on a cookie sheet in the oven.  Sometimes my parents would have empty, clear plastic pill bottles (remember those? Before they made the bottles amber?), and I'd fill them part way with plastic beads and melt the whole thing down.  The results were always really cool.  

So how hard can it be, right?  OK, I didn't want noxious fumes in my kitchen so I decided to use an old toaster oven, outside on the deck.  I used some grungy cookie cutters that I knew I'd never use on food. Do you have any idea how much time it took to do the blue and purple inside that star?!?!?!

Instructions said bake at 425* for 25 minutes.  That seemed high to me; I thought when I did them in the 70's it was closer to 250*. 

I went inside to check my Facebook, and one of my friends made a crack about making sure I had the fire extinguisher "just in case".  She didn't want to read about "the raging fire in Bourne caused by some woman trying to melt beads".  Something clicked in my head when I read that and I went outside to check on them. It had only been 10 minutes.  

Yep, those suckers were on fire alright.  It wasn't too bad.  Yet.  Another minute or two?  I don't even wanna think about that.  I got it unplugged and the garden hose was next to me so I soaked the entire oven down, listening to my project sizzling and watching black stinky smoke pour out the front.