Before the advent of electronic toys, computer graphics and 3-D virtual reality games, the lowly and stalwart crayon could be found clutched in the sweaty paws of millions of kids. These colorful waxen tools were how we translated the real world onto paper, with fish and oceans and trees and clouds. And stick figures climbing mountains. And bright yellow sunflowers opening upon a green field. Picasso’s we were not, but we made the world as we saw it and the crayons came in just the right amount of colors (120) to satisfy our nascent yet demanding palette. The tear-off paper covering was genius, exposing the crayon without relinquishing the grip. We used the pencil sharpener to refine the blunt instrument into a surgically precise waxen blade, designed to stay inside the lines at all costs.
Crayola began making crayons way back in 1903, and much to my surprise they are going strong, producing upward of three billion annually. They also sell colored pencils, chalk and my personal favorite, Silly-Putty [tm].
One Christmas I remember getting the 120-crayon box with precisely one crayon for every color they had. I flipped open the box and looked upon them, brilliantly arrayed in tiers like a church choir. And though we didn’t have much back then, on that day I had more than I needed.
whoisfenton 