Crayon

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For other uses, see Crayon (disambiguation).

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with a US-centric point of view and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (July 2011)

Wax crayons

A crayon ( /ˈkreɪ.ɒn/, /ˈkreɪ.ən/, or US /ˈkræn/) is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other materials used for writing, coloring, drawing, and other methods of illustration. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel; when made of pigment with a dry binder, it is simply a pastel; both are popular media for color artwork. A grease pencil or china marker (UK chinagraph pencil) is made of colored hardened grease and is useful for marking on hard, glossysurfaces such as porcelain or glass. Some fine arts companies such as Swiss Caran d'Ache manufacture water-soluble crayons, whose colors are easily mixed once applied to media.
They are easy to work with, not messy (as paint and markers are), blunt (removing the risk of sharp points present when using a pencil or pen), non-toxic, very inexpensive, and available in a wide variety of colors.

A wide variety of crayon boxes have been produced over the years