Crazy for Color

Macaroni and cheese, periwinkle, jungle green. Crayola crayons come in every color of the rainbow. The company makes 120 different colors of crayons—and it makes a lot of them!

The Crayola factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, opened in 1903. Today it produces around 12 million crayons each day. That’s nearly 3 billion crayons per year!

Macaroni and cheese. Periwinkle. Jungle green. Crayola crayons come in every color of the rainbow. The company makes 120 different colors of crayons. And it makes a lot of them!

The Crayola factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, opened in 1903. Today it produces around 12 million crayons each day. That’s nearly 3 billion crayons per year!

It takes a lot of wax to make all those crayons. The wax that they use is naturally clear. So after they melt the wax, crayon makers mix it with pigment, or powdered color. Crayola’s pigments can be either human-made or come from natural sources. Many of Crayola’s brown crayons, for example, use ground up metal rust as a pigment. Rust is a substance that forms when certain metals come in contact with water.

It takes a lot of wax to make all those crayons. The wax is naturally clear. First, crayon makers melt the wax. Then they mix it with pigment. Pigment is powdered color. Some of Crayola’s pigments are human-made. Others come from natural sources. For example, many of Crayola’s brown crayons use rust as a pigment. Rust forms when some metals come in contact with water.

Next, the warm, colored wax is poured into small molds in the shape of crayons. The wax hardens after a few minutes. Then each crayon is wrapped twice in paper labels.

Next, the warm, colored wax is poured into small molds. The molds are shaped like crayons. The wax hardens after a few minutes. Then each crayon is wrapped twice in paper labels.

The factory produces the rainbow colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet most frequently, along with brown and black. According to one major poll, blue is the most popular color. In fact, six shades of blue made the top 10 list.

The factory produces the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black most frequently. According to one major poll, blue is the most popular color. In fact, six shades of blue made the top 10 list.

Crayola is no ordinary place to work. “We call ourselves Crayolians,” says Crayola employee Eric Zebley. The walls of the offices are painted in Crayola’s signature bright colors, he says. This reminds employees that they’re making crayons for the most colorful customers of all: kids like you!

Crayola is a special place to work. “We call ourselves Crayolians,” says Eric Zebley. He works at Crayola. The walls of the offices are painted in Crayola’s signature bright colors, he says. This reminds employees that they’re making crayons for the most colorful customers of all: kids like you!