A crayon is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other material used for writing and drawing. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel; when made of pigment with a dry binder, it is simply a pastel. A grease pencil is made of colored hardened grease and is useful for marking on hard, glossy surfaces such as porcelain or glass.

Wax crayons are commonly used for drawing and coloring by children, although adult artists have occasionally produced works in crayon (though not commonly, for one reason because of the difficulty in mixing colours). Many schools across the globe have crayons for the children. They are relatively easy to work with, blunt (removing any risk from sharp points), non-toxic, and available in a wide variety of colors. The world's largest manufacturer of wax crayons is Binney & Smith Inc., the manufacturer of Crayola® brand crayons, which are made of paraffin wax, a petroleum product. Soybean oil can also be used to make crayons, although this is less common.

External links

• A movie about how crayons are made
• Timeline of Crayola® crayon colours
• Soy crayons

Art materials

Pastelkridt | クレヨン | Kredka | Crayon