Soft Pastels

This page is designed to give insight into what soft pastels Dee uses, which she prefers, which she finds better for different techniques and which she is yet to try but intends to in the future.

Unison Colour Soft Pastels

These are by far one of Dee's favourite soft pastels to use. Her collection is still very small, however the Unison Pastels she does she uses on every piece of art she creates. She loves that they are handmade and were designed and made by an artist, ensuring they reached every goal he set for the final piece he settled on and began producing.

During many years of meticulous inquiry, John Hersey decided only the finest high-quality pigment produced the acceptable colour and longevity that he required for his artists materials. A robust yet responsive medium that could be transported outdoors with minimal fuss was his aim and this was achieved with results that just had to be shared with artists worldwide.

Unison pastels consist of a high percentage of superior quality pigment with an absolute minimal amount of filler, if required. Unison believe in authentic colour - no dyes, no imitations, simply pure unadulterated colour. Every aspect of our manufacturing system is "hand-made". This gentle process produces a high calibre product, which is buttery in texture. Each pastel is an individual so may differ slightly in size and shape although every care is taken to achieve uniformity.

These pastels consist of a high percentage of superior quality pigment with an absolute minimal amount of filler, if even required. We believe in authentic colour, no dyes, no imitations, simply pure unadulterated colour, and this really does show when using these pastels and its something that Dee finds beautiful, the amount of different pigments is so large she's never struggled to find a colour to match what she is drawing, no matter how unusual it might be. Because Unison use very many different pigments in the making of their pastels, this results in varying textures also, from almost the finest sands of Italian earths to the smoothest softness of ultramarine pigments. This is a true indicator of the pure content of Unison Pastels. These pastels are not only blendable, they are so versatile, many professional artists use them in conjunction with watercolour and acrylic paints, though this is not something Dee has tried herself, however, she does have plans in the future to try pastels with another medium, but she's keeping this close to her chest for now.

Unison pastel colour is faithfully lightfast and again this is due to the real pigment content. Traditional pigments have stood the test of time and show very little evidence of fading or impairment, This is very important to Dee as she spends hours, days, weeks creating her pieces of art, and when giving her art to her clients she likes to be comfortable in the knowledge that not only has she put her heart, sweat and soul into creating the best piece of art, but that she is also using the best materials she has at hand to ensure the highest quality of art is produced for her customers.

JACKSON'S : HANDMADE SOFT PASTELS

Jackson's Handmade Soft Pastels are high quality, artist grade pastels. There are 200 soft and bright colours in the range, as well as a wide variety of themed selection sets.

There Soft Pastels are made carefully by hand which makes them very soft with a smooth, buttery consistency. They have a low binder to pigment ratio which makes them rich and luminous, allowing for both subtle and bold mark making. Their excellent lightfast qualities mean that pastel paintings created with them will not deteriorate over time.

The four fluorescent colours are the only exception; like all fluorescent colours they are not Lightfast.

The pastels are made solely from pigments, a bentonite clay binder, and calcium carbonate (chalk). Each pastel measures approximately 55mm in length and 15mm in diameter.

D 2 ee loves to use these soft pastels and finds them very simular to Unison Pastels but with a lower price tag. The quality is a very high standard and Dee is happy using these on her art portraits. There is a great choice of colours and Dee is looking forward to seeing this collection of soft pastels grow.

Schmincke's finest extra soft pastels

Working with Schmincke's finest extra soft pastels will give you a completely unique drawing experience. They have an incredibly high concentration of top quality pigment powder held together by the absolute minimum amount of binding agent - just enough to ensure that they remain a stable compound. Unlike many pastels on the market they also do not contain chalk or additives which helps keep their colouration pure and consistent throughout each pastel.

This stripped back recipe results in such soft pastels that Schmincke had to design a costly and time consuming manufacturing process to stop them breaking. Each lump of pre-kneaded pastel dough is rolled into rounded skeins which are sectioned by hand and laid onto a sheet. The skeins are then cut by hand with a wire-strung frame and transferred onto wooden palettes where they are left to dry for around 2 weeks. By this time they are so soft that they need to be wrapped by hand and gently placed in their foam packaging. Each pastel is covered in an information sheet that denotes its colour name, number and grade of graduation:

B - the black graduation
D - the pure colour
H - the darkest white graduation
M - the medium white graduation
O - the lightest white graduation

SENNELIER : SOFT PASTELS

It took over three years, at the turn of the 20th Century, to formulate the Sennelier range of Extra Soft Pastels and thus to create one of the largest chromatic range of pastels. Throughout the century, this range of tones has evolved, but the heart of its making remains unchanged.
A Sennelier extra soft pastel is composed of high quality pure pigment grounded with a natural transparent binder.
The high quality composition of pastels is the result of a perfect balance between binder and pigment. For gradient shades, increasing amounts of mineral fines are added, ultimately tending towards white. The exceptional brightness is the result of the pigment and of the natural mineral fines discovered by Sennelier in 1905 and that have been used ever since.
The manufacturing process of the Sennelier cylindrical pastel does not compress the paste and the pastel dries naturally in open air. The life span of a piece of work is guaranteed by the quality of the pastel, but also by the quality of the substrate. If a lot of overlapping is performed, it is preferable to fix between layers. Avoid, however, fixing the final layer too heavily, as the original vibrancy of tones will be lost.

Dee finds these pastels great for getting sharper detail in her work, but where she doesn't want to go in with the pastel pencils yet.

DALER ROWNEY : ARTISTS SOFT PASTELS

Daler-Rowney are acknowledged as the world masters in the making of artists' pastels - and to complement the range of almost 200 tints, there are specialist surfaces and fixatives. The finest pigments are blended with chalk and china clay to produce the vibrant colour and smooth velvet texture of Artists' Soft Pastels, each one carefully wrapped by hand.

The rich, deep colour, texture and immediacy of Artists' Soft Pastels is ideal for all kinds of drawing and painting as well as quick colour sketches for preparatory work. For more detailed line work, Artists' Hard Pastels are a little firmer to create a harder mark. Oil Pastels, which require no fixing, are a versatile and economical medium for drawing and painting, used on their own or in mixed media work.

Dee loves to use these pastels alongside using the Senniler Pastels as they're a similar texture and hardness. These are so god for getting a Sharpe deep coloured line on a piece of art where you want enhance certain features. They're lovely pastels to use to get some great detail in your art.

Pan Pastels

PanPastel Colours are professional grade soft pastel colours packed in a unique pan format (cake-like) so that they can be mixed and applied like paint. They are very low dust for a cleaner working environment.

PanPastel are made using a unique manufacturing process requiring minimal binder and fillers, resulting in rich, ultra soft and low dust formulations. Only professional artists’ grade pigments are used for the most concentrated colours possible. The colours have excellent lightfastness and are fully erasable.

PanPastel are also excellent for use in a variety of ways as a general dry colour. They are popular for underpaintings and in mixed media works, as well as for tinting mediums, like encaustic artists who use them to tint wax. PanPastel are excellent for hand colouring prints and photographs, and markers can be used on top of them without clogging the nib.

Dee has only had the privilege of using one colour from pan pastels collection so far, purely due to the cost of each cake, however, the one colour that she does have is a gorgeous vibrant colour and though she's used it on approximately half a dozen pieces of art, she's not eve made a deny in thencake, so if the one main thing that Dee has found is that they are certainly worth their cost because they go such a long way. They are very smooth to use, they have such a huge range of ways you can use them, and different tools get different affects. These are certainly a pastel that Dee wants to get more of, especially greens and bright colours for her amphibians and reptiles, so these are certainly a set of pastels that Dee will be building slowly over time.

Diane Townsend Pastels

Diane Townsend Artists' Pastels are hand-made soft pastels for artists. She began making them in 1971 using a 17th century Italian formula from Rosabla Carriera translated for her by a conservationist in fine arts with whom she shared a studio. Artist and partner Judah Catalan and Diane have dedicated a total of 50 years refining this formula to create a smooth, flowing pastel that is as rich in pigment as possible. Pastels are essentially pigments lightly bound together with a binder and a variety of particles that aid in the application of pigments; as such, pastels are by nature a fragile medium- some are softer than others depending on the amount of chalk, clay, or other supportive materials added to the pigment.

The Soft Form pastel is designed to fit your hand and with easel painting in mind. They are easy to apply, pick up, and put down as you work. Later, they designed the Terrages pastel for a more vigorous approach to drawing. These pastels are larger and more square than the Soft Form pastels. The Terrages pastels, like the Soft Form pastels, have pumice in them to grip the paper; however, like all pastels, they also require some delicacy in application. We worked on this pastel with Wolf Kahn to achieve the desired consistency. The idea was to break the surface of the paper and grind the pastel with pumice stone into it to support and disperse the colors. Terrages pastels are good for larger works on an easel or wall. The Thin Line pastel is a much thinner pastel for those who like a slender stick. Thin Line colors are a limited selection from the Soft Form colors.

Dee was sent a box of Soft Form Pastels from Diane Townsend and was absolutely blown away by how amazing these pastels are to use. They are made to such perfection and wrapped in a little sleeve of paper that states the pastel name and colour plus number. I have used Unison Pastels for the years that I've been drawing and gave loved the softness that you get when using them, however when using Diane Townsend Soft Form pastels i was plesently surprised by just how soft these pastels are. The colours that I received are just stunning! Very bright and vibrant and flow across the paper just beautifully. Dee can't wait to use more of these wonderful pastels but will certainly have to do some saving to buy more.

Dee can't thank Diane Townsend enough for her wonderful kind gesture.

Soft Pastels Wish List

This part of the list is detailing pastels that Dee has not had the pleasure of using yet but certainly has them on her wish list for future pieces of art.

TERRY LUDWIG : PASTEL SETS

ART SPECTRUM : EXTRA SOFT SQUARE PASTEL SETS

BLUE EARTH : SOFT PASTELS

MOUNT VISION : SOFT PASTELS

ART ESSENSSIALS Extra Soft Artists Pastels

Gallery Artists' Handmade Soft Pastel Sets

Jaxell Soft Pastel Themed Sets

SAA Artists' Soft Pastels

Mamut Pastels