FLESH: Who determined the color for that crayon?
I remember a time that I was teaching in a church as a youth leader and we were going to do some art projects to celebrate family and the holiday. I pulled out the crayons and searched through and there was one that was called FLESH. It was essentially an apricot, peachy color. I knew from my own childhood that all the people were to be colored this flesh color. WOW, right?
It did happen to be a likeness to my skin but as I looked around me coloring with a room full of youth, what about them? This crayon did not match each and every one of their skin tones.
Who decided that this crayon was flesh of the children coloring their pictures? I was not prepared for the emotion I felt as I was to instruct them to color the portraits they had drawn of their families.
Flesh colored crayons were used until 1962 when the color was renamed “Peach.”
58 years later – Crayola gets it!
Colors of the World, Multicultural Crayons Just RELEASED 2020!
With more than 40 global skin tones represented in 24 shades, 8 classic eye and hair colors, they did it.
Crayola partnered with Victor Casale, formerly Chief Chemist and Managing Director, R&D of MAC cosmetics and Cofounder and Chief Innovation Officer of Cover FX and currently CEO of MOB Beauty, possesses over 30 years of experience in creating foundation colors for global skin tones to come up with this inclusive skin tone palette.
“I have spent my life trying to create truly global shade palettes because I know what it’s like to be with a person who has finally found their exact match. They feel included and recognized, and I am hoping every child who uses these crayons and finds their shade will have that feeling,” says Casale. “Growing up, I remember mixing the pink and dark brown crayons to try and make my shade, so I was thrilled when Crayola asked for my help to create the Colors of the World crayons.”(ifitshipitshere.com)
Exclusively available at Walmart in stores ONLY, go online for availability in your local store before heading out. The marker sets are available as well but do not boast more than 8 colors in packs. The crayons have all 32 that you need to color your family perfectly to the hues of each individual skin tone, hair, and eye color. LOVE THIS!
With a recent push to unify our cultures, races, and ethnicities all over America today, combined with the world’s history of racism and oppression – things like the innovation of the crayon is brilliant; in that our children can be a part of closing the gap on segregation of peoples. This, an important lesson for our children, to be a part of taking pride in the color of their skin and having the choice to put the crayon box with the warm hues next to the underside of their wrist to see the crayon made especially for them; inclusion of all people within creativity for a child (or adult) to visually see the difference in our friends around the globe as splashes of color while drawing real memories on paper is embracing cultural diversity as ACTION.
I am very excited to color a picture of my family with a 32-count box of “Colors of the World” and see what I come up with as a German Irish girl and my kids blended with Dutch in their skin tones. I will be purchasing today and will place a picture in the comments so you can see what we come up with! Please post your pictures below so we can celebrate this awesome innovation of multicultural diversity that ties back to our childhood. It is never too late to have a happy childhood.
This is a small but significant way to love and accept and appreciate one another and the colors of the world that represent all of humanity. We are all God’s children, created to love one another no matter what the color of our crayon, I mean skin. (grin)
Images thanks to:
Crayola.com
Wikipedia.com
Walmart.com
Laura on ifitshipitshere.com
Thinking Sunshine
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!