Pastel practice:
Storage pastels

Table of contents

Storage pastels

If an artist works a lot with pastel, then, over time, he accumulates a certain number of bars, the storage of which requires a small order. Sorting by gamma is considered a standard solution among pastelists (the number of groups depends only on how wide the range of colors used). After sorting, it is recommended to store pastel bars in separate cardboard boxes, but the best solution is to use a large box with a large number of compartments: this helps to quickly find the right color, and thanks to the partitions, the bars will not pollute each other. Usually, pastel colors of the following colors are combined together: blue and green, sienna and ocher, brown and purple, red and yellow, shades of gray, etc.

Many artists try to work with whole pastel bars, but this is inconvenient, it is better to divide the new bar into two or three parts and use as needed. Please note that when breaking soft pastels, a large number of small crumbs are formed, which are recommended to be collected in a separate container. Later, these crumbs can be used.

A large, but shallow, drawer with compartments is considered the best option for storing pastel colors: each compartment should be given under bars of a certain or similar tones.

On sale you can find special boxes for storing pastel bars. Due to the presence of their mesh compartments do not clog crumbled pastels.

The palette used by the pastelist is very large. It includes several shades of various tones, and all of them are used to create paintings in various colors. Sooner or later, any artist is faced with the fact that there are a large number of small pieces of indeterminate color (pieces often touch each other). To avoid this, you must initially accustom yourself to order - that is, a piece of any size should go to the place where its color brothers are. A slight contamination of the bars can be eliminated by wiping it with a cloth or using the method described below. When the sizes of the pieces become too small, that is, they cannot be used, there is an option for their processing (see the figure on the right).

The method of cleaning the bars is quite simple, you just need to put the contaminated bars in a box of rice and shake a little, after this procedure the bars will regain their original colors. Rice can be replaced with peeled wheat grains. Quite often, pastelists with experience store all their pastel bars in boxes with rice or wheat grains, so their paints are always ready for work.

To give purity to pastel slices, put them in a box of peeled wheat and shake: this method will quickly eliminate pollution, and the bars will shine again with their original colors.

All pastel crumbs must be collected in a glass bowl and crushed. After receiving the powder, a small amount of gum arabic dissolved in water should be added to it (5 parts of water per 1 part of gum arabic), mix until a homogeneous mass appears (it is necessary to achieve the absence of lumps), and roll a bar out of it.

Stage 1. Grind small pieces of pastel into dust.

2 stage. Add gum arabic dissolved in water to the powder, stirring to obtain a homogeneous mass.

3 stage. Roll up the resulting mass, give it a cylindrical shape, here you have a new pastel bar, in this example brown, which turned out due to the mixing of different tones.