I don’t really have an interest in crayons. I find crayons being an integral part to school assignments in schools across the nation as hogwash.

I also find crayons as a child’s play thing in their residency at home also to be hogwash.

As you may expect, I view crayons philosophically.

For one thing, for an unknown (and what I personally find surprising) reason; companies such as Goodyear Tire and Continental Oil (now Conoco) had produced crayons at one time.

There was once a crayon manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio and it’s manufacturing plant was located in Port Clinton, Ohio (located near Sandusky, Ohio) at 215 Maple Street called the Colonial Crayon Company. The company had closed it’s doors and had filed for dissolution in February, 1920.

The Colonial Crayon company’s manufacturing plant was located either where there is now a slab overgrown with weeds, or the large, ancient-looking industrial factory located next door.

Crayons have their origin in grease pencils/china markers. Crayons, in fact; were invented to be never originally intended for coloring purposes, but to make markings on an object like why one would use a china marker today.

Crayola’s parent company, Binney & Smith; located somewhere in Pennsylvania, got it’s start by making color pigments (such as black for the rubber to make tires) and red pigments for paint intended to paint barns ‘Barn Red’.

According to Wikipedia, in 1902; Binney & Smith had developed and introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Then, Edwin Binney, working with his wife, whose name was Alice Stead Binney, had developed his own famous product line of wax crayons beginning on June 10, 1903. The crayons were sold under the brand name “Crayola” from that point forward. The Crayola name was coined by Alice Binney, a former schoolteacher. The name comes from “craie”, French for “chalk,” and “ola” for “oleaginous”, or “oily”. The suffix “-ola” was also popular in commercial use at the time, lending itself to products such as the granola, pianola, Victrola, Shinola; and Mazola from the 1890’s through the 19-teens.

Binney & Smith had created the Crayola line of crayons for drawing and educational purposes, while the Rubens line of crayons was created for professional artists and college art students.

In 1926, had purchased the Munsell company’s product line (formed by Albert Munsell, father of the modern color wheel); and had inherited 22 new crayon colors in the process.

In 1984, Hallmark Cards had purchased Binney & Smith outright; and Binney & Smith remains a subsidiary to Hallmark Cards to this very day.

Binney & Smith had created the Crayola line of crayons in 1903. The original lineup consisted of the 8 primary colors (Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, Green, Violet/Purple; and Pink. In 1930, the lineup had been expanded with more colors of crayon being created such as Carnation Pink, Yellow-Orange, Blue-Green, the original Red-Violet, Red-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Violet; and White. As of 1999, the lineup consisted of 24 colors and had included colors such as the current-generation Violet-Red, Scarlet, Dandelion, Green-Yellow, Cerulean, Indigo, Apricot; and Gray.

In 1958, pastel colors that were popular during the 1950’s; such as Brick Red, Orange-Red, Bittersweet, Burnt Orange, Orange-Yellow, Green-Yellow, Spring Green, Light Blue, Cornflower, Green-Blue, Navy Blue, Cadet Blue, Periwinkle, Plum, Mulberry, Lavender II, Violet-Red, Melon, Raw Sienna, Tan, Apricot, Blue-Gray had been added by Binney & Smith. Pine Green and Violet II had been resurrected after having originally ended production in 1949, Peach had been resurrected after having ended production in 1956, Copper had been resurrected for the first time since 1915; and Sepia had been resurrected after having originally ended production in 1944.  These colors were the result of men working at the upper management at Binney & Smith holding meetings having concluded that colors in tune with the times needed to be added to the collection. These meetings were conducted in 1950’s style and mentality.

In 1990, Binney & Smith had introduced a line of colors with a silver hue for their crayons; such as Cerulean Frost, Glossy Grape, Lilac Luster, Misty Moss, Polished Pine, Rose Dust, Steel Teal, Sugar Plum, Twilight Lavender; and Wintergreen Dream to name a few.

In 1992, Binney & Smith had introduced a lineup of crayon colors intended to appeal to a multicultural children’s audience; most likely targeted towards children in the Middle East and on the Indian subcontinent. These colors consisted mostly of colors that were introduced in 1903 and in 1958, with the exception of only one color that had been introduced in 1949; and that color is Mahogany.

In 1994, Binney & Smith had introduced the very famous and controversial scented crayons dubbed “Magic Scent”. They’re controversial because many parents had complained to Binney & Smith that their children utilizing the crayons scented after food had found them delectable to eat. Foods such as Cherry, Chocolate, Banana; and Lemon were just a few out of the many foods that Binney & Smith had scented these crayons after. How Binney & Smith was able to extract the actual smells for the fragrances used during the manufacture of these crayons is a good question.

Also in 1994, Binney & Smith had introduced a line of crayons whose colors are modeled after precious gemstones. Binney & Smith had dubbed this line of crayons “Gem Tones”. Binney & Smith had given the colors in this line of crayons names such as Emerald, Jade, Amethyst, Sapphire, Smokey Topaz, Tiger’s Eye; and Malachite.

And also in 1994, Binney & Smith had introduced a line of crayons that glow in the dark. How they were able to formulate the chemical compound in these crayons so that they glowed in the dark is a good question.

In 1995, Binney & Smith had introduced a line of crayons where the deposited wax, once on the paper; changes color once the user would color over the wax with an off-white crayon that would change the color from the “From color” to the “To color”. How Binney & Smith was able to develop the wax that allowed itself to change from one color to another is a good question.

In 1997, Binney & Smith had introduced an entirely new line of scented crayons to replace the aforementioned ones that were introduced a few years earlier in 1994. This new generation of scented crayons was dubbed “Color N’ Smell”. I personally would prefer to dub them “Color & Smell”. None of these scented crayons from the new generation were scented after foods. This new generation of scented crayons had colors named in such a manner as “Earthworm”, “Fresh Air”, “Pine Tree”; and “Saw Dust”.

Also in 1997, Binney & Smith had introduced a few more lines of crayons dubbed “Star Brite”, “Color Mix-Up” (which contained a solid color with flecks of two other colors in it); and “Pearl Brite”, which consisted of colors with names such as Aqua Pearl and Orchid Pearl.

Last, in 1997; Binney & Smith had released a line of crayons with glitter as part of a Special Effects crayons package. This line of crayons was simply dubbed “Crayons With Glitter”.

In 2001, after a 4 year hiatus of introducing new products; Binney & Smith had released two new lines of crayons, dubbed “Metallic FX” and “Gel FX”. I personally would prefer to dub them “Metallic Effects” and “Gel Effects”. The “Metallic Effects” line of crayons were similar to the line modeled after precious gemstones that had been introduced in 1994.

In 2002, Binney & Smith had introduced the 3rd generation of scented crayons dubbed “Silly Scents”. Also in 2002, Binney & Smith had introduced a line of crayons dubbed “Heads N’ Tails”, which I personally prefer to dub “Heads & Tails”. This line of crayons consisted of those that were double-sided and encased in plastic tubes. This line of crayons was a prototype of the “Twistable” line of crayons that were to come later in 2004.

In 2004, Binney & Smith introduces the so-called ‘twistable’ crayons, in both full-sized and in miniature sizes.

In 2007, Binney & Smith introduces the so-called ‘twistable’ crayons as part of a separate line that they dub “True To Life”. This line of colors consists of colors that are well, true to life as the name implies; and has color names such as Grand Canyon, Sahara Desert; and Caribbean Current.

In 2009, Binney & Smith had introduced a line of the so-called ‘twistable’ crayons oddly called “Extreme Twistable Colors” with color names such as Fiery Rose, Winter Sky; and Frostbite.

Finally, the second most important factor pertaining to crayons after me viewing crayons philosophically and not as a children’s item whiter it involves a school assignment or coloring while the children are at home; are my paternal grandmother, an artist involved with ceramics, dollmaking, and painting; having used professional grade crayons for some of her art endeavors.

It would be interesting to find if an automotive paint supplier, such as PPG and DuPont; would receive a license from Binney & Smith to duplicate any of their crayon colors as colors a customer (such as the Detroit 3 automakers, the Japanese car companies; and the Korean car companies) would offer the consumer as a color choice on their car. Maybe, perhaps; the line of colors that Binney & Smith had introduced in 1990 with a silver hue to them and/or the line of colors modeled after precious gemstones that was introduced in 1994.

My paternal grandmother had also used encaustic paint for some of her paintings. We’ll get to talking about my paternal grandmother’s encaustic paintings in another post.