Crayon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Crayon (disambiguation).

Wax crayons

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 (UK chinagraph 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. Crayons are a staple at most schools worldwide. They are easy to work with, not messy (as is paint), blunt (removing the risk of sharp points present when using a pencil or pen), 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 crayons, which are made of paraffin wax, a petroleum product. Soybean oil can also be used to make crayons, although this is less common.

Adult artists have occasionally produced works in crayon, but it is uncommon due to the difficulty in mixing colors.^{[citation needed]}

Some fine arts companies such as Swiss Caran d'Ache manufacture water-soluble crayons. With or without water, once applied to media the crayons' colors are easily mixed.

Jean-François Millet is an example of one artist who used conté crayon in his work. [1] [2]