In 1925, Sakura Color Products of Osaka, Japan, formulated Cray-Pas oil pastels with premium quality pigments, wax, and oil. Today, the finest elements continue to make up the Cray-Pas family of oil pastels. The best art curriculums nationwide use Cray-Pas to teach and practice art techniques as oil pastels are an ideal medium to learn paint techniques with the ease of a stick and without the mess of paints, brushes and water. The Expressionist color range allows students, hobbyists, and professional artists to achieve many painterly effects like blending, layering, scratching to create texture and fine detail. Cray-pas oil pastels are extremely smooth to apply, can create broad strokes, and allow the user to blend colors to build texture and depth. The unique Cray-Pas Extender is a colorless oil pastel, further extending any Expressionist color for the continuation of hues. The 10mm diameter x 71mm length round stick of Cray-Pas Expressionist is easy to hold, and are great for drawing, scratch art, or long lasting sidewalk art. Cray-Pas work excellently on different surfaces such as paper, cardboard, wood and canvas and will not peel, crack or flake. Cray-pas oil pastels are certified non-toxic by ACMI toxicologists and bears the trusted AP Seal.