Notebook

Notebook, 1993-

MATERIALS & METHODS - Pastels

Pastels - The Pastel Chalks - Manufacturing the Chalks - Table of chalks & Binders - Binders - Supports & Grounds - Paper for Pastels - Painting Procedure - Fixative - Care and Display

From: Kay, Reed. The Painter's Guide to Studio Methods and Materials. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983.

Pastels - Care and Display
The principal technical limitations of pastel is the weakness of its bond to the support. Because it is held only by the physical roughness of the surface, the color tends to powder off, and the picture may be easily damaged by light rubbing. Since the pigments are not encased in a protective film of binding medium, they are vulnerable to airborne chemical impurities, to moisture, and especially to the growth of mold. Therefore pastels should be sprayed with fixative and carefully framed and glassed. The pastel should not touch the glass, but should be separated from it by a rag cardboard mat and hinged to a rag cardboard backing board . . . . A separator strip of wood . . . . can give the pastel additional protection. Glass is preferable to Plexiglas glazing, since the plexiglass acrylic sheet tends to attract loose pigment particles to its interior surface by building up static electricity. The glass should be carefully fitted to the frame to exclude moisture and dust. Pastels made on unmounted paper can be mounted on a rigid backing after they have been sprayed with fixative, but this is a job best left to an expert. [p. 213]

[Kay, Reed. The Painter's Guide to Studio Methods and Materials. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983.]



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