Crossword Genius

Initially choose a man-made material for something with which to write (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

crayon

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'material for something with which to write' is the definition.
'crayon' can be an answer for 'material' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the remainder of the definition.

'initially choose a man-made' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'man' could be 'ryon' and 'ryon' is located in the remaining letters.
A single letter 'c' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for crayon that I've seen before include "Coloured rod" , "Producer of sketch" , "Drawing pen" , "Drawing implement" , "Coloured wax pencil" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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