A colored pencil set is bought on three decisions at once: the lead system, the pack form, and what the buyer wants printed on it. A quotation that answers “colored pencils” has answered a category rather than an order.
The lead system is the first line of the specification
The lead decides what the tool can do and which shelf it belongs on, so it comes before piece count and long before price.
| Lead system | What the lead does | Where it sells |
|---|---|---|
| Oil-based | firm core, keeps a point, waxy edge on the paper | retail shelves, school programmes |
| Water-soluble | the stroke moves under a wet brush, so one set covers pencil work and paint work | art education, adult colouring |
| Metallic | a metallic sheen that reads on dark paper | gift, stationery and hobby counters |
| Pastel and skin color | soft pigment for portraits, layering and blending | portrait and figure courses |
An oil based colored pencils set with iron box is the shape most school orders take. The tin box oil based color pencil 12 / 24 / 36 colours format is the same product sold to a stationery counter, where the lid does the selling. A watercolor pencils set 12 / 24 / 36 / 72 colours covers the art-course end, where the buyer counts colours the way a school counts students.
These are not four grades of one pencil. They are separate products that share a barrel, and an account that already stocks oil-based will not reorder water-soluble by accident. Write the system on the purchase order.
Pack form: iron box, tin box or canvas roll
The second decision is what holds the pencils. The pack is what the customer sees before touching a pencil, and it moves the price point more than the lead does.
| Pack form | What it is | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Iron box | hinged metal case with a moulded tray | retail and gift, and the format that survives a school bag |
| Tin box | lithographed lid, larger print area | licensing, holiday lines, counter display |
| Canvas roll | fabric roll, tie closure, slots stitched per pencil | studio and travel โ the 47 pcs oil based colored pencils set with roll up canvas case is the wholesale version |
| Card sleeve | printed board, no case | promotions, and the cheapest route to customised print |
A card sleeve is the pack to quote when the buyer’s margin is thin. An iron box is the pack to quote when the buyer intends to sell the set twice. The two are not interchangeable mid-season, because the shelf space and the shipping carton both change with the case.
What the range covers
Above the single packs, the range runs across lead systems and pack forms at once โ the shelf a buyer can build from one supplier.
| Product in the range | Lead and form |
|---|---|
| Tin box oil based color pencil, 12 / 24 / 36 colours | oil-based, tin box |
| Oil based colored pencils set with iron box | oil-based, iron box |
| Watercolor pencils set, 12 / 24 / 36 / 72 colours | water-soluble, iron box |
| 47 pcs oil based colored pencils set with roll up canvas case | oil-based, canvas roll |
| Pastel oil base colored pencil, 4.0 mm lead | pastel, 4.0 mm core |
| Metallic colored pencils with graphite charcoal | metallic, plus graphite and charcoal |
| Skin color pencils, 12 colors | portrait range |
| Thick core flat octagonal colored pencils | thick flat core, octagonal barrel |
| Color pencil 12 pieces set | three hot-selling styles |
The 12-piece and 24-piece packs carry the volume. A 36 or 72 set is bought by an account that already sells the smaller pack and wants a step-up, not by a buyer who is new to the category. A twistable watercolor crayons set with brush sits beside the range for the same buyer, and a colouring book with colour pencil is the consumer phrasing of the same demand.
All of it sits in one place on our own site โ the color pencil category โ which is the list to work from rather than a single product page.
Custom packaging is where the order changes shape
OEM is the reason most wholesale buyers open the conversation at all. Four levers move, and each one carries its own minimum.
| Lever | What changes | What it costs the buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Logo on the barrel | pad print or foil on the pencil | a per-colour print setup |
| Pack print | full-colour artwork on the blister card, the tin or the sleeve | artwork, plus a print run |
| Piece count | 12, 24, 36, 48 or a mixed pack | a new carton and a new inner tray |
| Assortment | which colours and which hardnesses sit in the box | a picking step in the packing line |
Two of these are cheap and two are not. Printing the lid is a one-off cost that the buyer amortises over the run. Changing the piece count touches the inner tray, the carton and the master carton at once, which is why a 24-piece request is never a 12-piece request with a different label.
The usual mistake is quoting a custom colored pencil order as though the barrel print were the whole job. Print the pack and the count changes and the quotation changes with it.
The specification sheet to send a supplier
Seven lines are the minimum for a colored pencil set, and the last three are the ones most often left off.
| Line | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lead system | oil-based, water-soluble, metallic or pastel | sets the behaviour and the price band |
| Piece count | the count in the box | separates products that share a name |
| Core diameter | 3.3 mm or 4.0 mm | decides whether the barrel must change |
| Pack form | iron box, tin box, canvas roll or card sleeve | decides the carton and the shelf |
| barrel logo, lid artwork, or neither | decides the setup cost | |
| Assortment | the colour list and the hardness list | stops the second order differing from the first |
| Packing | inner pack, carton and the reorder multiple | fixes how a buyer reorders |
What goes wrong after delivery
Colour drift between deliveries. A red is not a shade, and a warmer second batch is the fault that hurts most: nothing on the paperwork shows it. Hold a sealed reference set and check each delivery against it.
Cores that arrive broken. A soft core in a thin barrel snaps in transit. The pack has to hold the pencils, not just contain them.
A lid that was never printed. The one lever that cannot be fixed after the container leaves is the print. Approve artwork before the run, not after.
A reorder named only by piece count. A 24-piece set can be several products. Write the lead system and the pack form on the order, every time.
Sourcing a colored pencil line
The same product is asked for under a dozen names, and one page that answers all of them beats six that answer one. The demand arrives as colored pencils and as colour pencils, as a colored pencil set and as a colored pencils set, as colours pencil set, as pencil colors, as pencil colors set, and as pencil crayons. A school adds a count โ colour pencils 24, or 36 โ and a gift buyer adds a use: a colouring book with colour pencil is a stationery purchase, not an art purchase.
A buyer with a brief adds an intention instead: custom colored pencil, colored pencils custom, and custom coloring pencils packaging. A supplier search adds a role, which is why pencil manufacturer and custom colored pencils manufacturer appear in the same week as colors professional drawing pencils. The wholesale filter goes on last: colored pencil set wholesale, colored pencils bulk, oil based colored pencils wholesale, and an oem colored pencil set brief that arrives with the artwork already drawn.
Xin Bowen is a Chinese art-materials manufacturer. The brand was founded in 2008. The company and its distribution operation are based in Yiwu, Zhejiang, and production runs across three factories, including an art-pigment plant in Ningbo. We supply brushes, paints, palettes, paper and canvas, sketch series and studio tools, among other art materials, to wholesalers, brand agents, art-supply retailers and school programmes.
Send us the model or the use case, and the quotation comes back item by item โ MOQ, carton quantity and lead time included.
๐ฉ pm@tengyuanbrush.com ๏ฝ +86 153-3692-1170 (WhatsApp)
Address: No. H1-21425-21424, 1st Floor, 1st Street, Gate 53, Third District, International Trade City, Yiwu, Zhejiang, China
