"Sunglow, unmellow yellow, atomic tangerine, purple pizzazz, razzle dazzle rose, neon carrot...”
Names of crayon colors added to the 1990 box
They have brought color and creativity to generations of children across the world, but the crayon family began with just one color, black. Originally based on a mixture of charcoal and oil, the oil was soon replaced with wax to make the crayon stronger and easier to hold.
American cousins Edwin Binney (1866-1934) and Harold Smith (1860-1931) had a company that sold paint pigments—red for painting barns and black for car tires. In 1900 they began to make pencils and came up with the useful idea of dustless chalk for teachers. While touring schools with these products, the cousins spotted a gap in the market for a new drawing and writing implement. They set about making a safe, nontoxic toy for children and, in 1903, the first box of modern crayons was born. Containing eight colors— black, brown, blue, red, green, orange, yellow, and violet—the box cost a nickel. This was the start of Crayola crayons, a brand name Binney's wife coined by combining the French words for chalk and oily. Over the years, more exotic-sounding colors appeared, such as thistle, melon, and burnt sienna. Fluorescents were added in the 1970s. Today, crayons can glow in the dark or smell like flowers, but they are still pretty good for simply drawing.
