What are crayons made of?

Crayola Crayons are made primarily from paraffin wax and color pigment. This process is the same for all Crayola Crayon colors. The paraffin wax is melted and mixed together with pre-measured amounts of color pigments. read more

A crayon made of pigment with a dry binder is a pastel; when made of oiled chalk, it is called an oil pastel. A grease pencil or Chinese marker (UK chinagraph pencil) is made of colored hardened grease. read more

Cool water (55 F, 13 C) is used to cool the mold, allowing the crayon to be made in 3 to 9 minutes. A single mold makes 1,200 crayons at a time, weighing a total of about 40 pounds. The operator uses hydraulic pressure to eject the crayons from the mold. Earlier mold designs used a hand crank to push up the crayons. read more

There are 120 different colors of Crayola Crayons. 23 shades of red, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver. The Crayola factory in Easton, Pennsylvania makes 12 million crayons a day in a variety of the shades we have all grown up to know and love. read more