Make Your Own Pastels

Creating Handmade Pastels, Art Workshop, Part 1 of 2

Making soft pastels is a time-consuming messy job but well worth all the trouble when you are successful making that one special color that you have not been able to find anywhere else.

You can create your own custom pastel sizes that fit your hand and the techniques you like to use. Not only that, you learn a great deal about color during the process and can make them cheaper than buying commercial pastel crayons.

Making your own pastels also allows you to make your pastels as soft or as hard as you would like them to be. Commercial pastels have to be made hard enough to withstand breakage during shipment. Because you do not have to concern yourself with shipping you can make softer pastels that are more yielding and do not dig into the under-layers as much as the harder pastels do. The paint quality will be richer, and the colors more intense. The softer the pastel, the easier it is to make thick layers of color. Light colors can be applied with real impasto effects, which are especially brilliant with soft pastels.

Knowing what goes into your pastels is another advantage. You can be the quality control technician. You can choose the best ingredients available, proven permanent pigments, safe binder, and preservatives to prevent mold. You also will know that your pastels are free from trash contamination that sometimes happens in larger manufacturing places because you will assure your supplies and tools are as clean as possible at all times. If you have ever picked up a pastel and made a stroke on a painting and found that pastel left a scratch or tore the paper, you know exactly what trash contamination can do.

Gather your supplies and let's begin.
Here are a few suggestions:

1. Old Clothes to wear, plastic table cloth

2. Dust Mask, disposable gloves

3. Notebook for formulas and adjustments

4. Glass or non-stick Work surface

5. Measuring Spoons and cup, spatula, 1/2 tsp. & 1 drop graded dispenser

6. Ivory Clear dishwashing detergent, water

Note: Work Clean,when gloves get too dirty you can throw them out, when tools get dirty, wash and begin with clean tools and work surface.

7. Pigments, and precipitated chalk

8. Putty knife, (forming knives are nice)

9. Sponges, paper towels, babywipes, 409

10. Storage bottles for binding solutions

11. Dry pigments, Binder, preservative

12. Newspaper, plastic wrap

13. A bucket half full of water for clean up and rinsing off the tools.

14. A sense of humor!

You will notice as you go through this article that none of us have on eye protection, or aprons. When working for an extended period of time, it is advisable to protect yourself to the upper most degree. Better to be over protected and uncomfortable now than under protected and be sorry later. We did use extreme care to not touch the pigments with our bare hands, or create dust as we mixed our pigments. We also worked a very short time.

Here are a few precautions for your consideration that are particular to pastel making. As always, all safety measures should be followed using any materials, art related or not. Common sense will guide you with this.

When working with dry pigments, wear a dust mask and protect all exposed skin from dust particles as best as you can. Use protective skin cream before you begin work. Check with your art supply dealers for different types.

Do not eat, drink, or smoke in the studio. Although these pictures look like a kitchen scene, this is, in-fact a studio equipped with a large sink for clean up and a large table covered with a new white plastic shower curtain. The shower curtain can be taken outside to remove any dust, and then washed to be used again.

To begin you will need supplies to make a binding solution. Gum tragacanth is the most acceptable and widely used binder. It is a dry powder that is derived from the astragalus gummifer shrub and other related family plants found throughout SE Europe and W Asia. It is obtained through incisions in the stem of the plant. The gum, which is chiefly produced in Iran, is almost insoluble in water, but swells in it to form a stiff gel. Among it's many uses are found emulsifying agents, components of pills, hand lotions, medicinal lubricating jellies, as a demulcent, and as a sizing material. Binders other than gum tragacanth have been tried. Others have used such materials as honey, starch, soapy water, brandy, and more recently methyl cellulose wallpaper paste. The biggest advantage of using tragacanth is the pastels don't stick to your hands as much.

Because this binder is susceptible to mildew, you will need a preservative solution to put in your binder. For this workshop, we used gum tragacanth with preservative which can be obtained from most large art supply houses such as Dick Blick. Also try Robert Doak, Kremer and Studio Products for some or all of the materials needed.

Because each pigment has unique properties that react differently, the first step is to make binding solutions in different strengths to accommodate these differences. Scratch formulas as listed in this article were collected from other pastel artist friends as well as from noted reference material. If you do not need larger quantities or can't find smaller lots, see if you can find a friend that would be willing to split an order or possibly make pastels with you and split the recipe.

From Scratch Formulas:

Preservative Solution

Lukewarm water: 5 quarts + 2 level teaspoons of *sodium orthophenyl phenate

Or, small amounts of a weak solution of phenol [carbolic acid], about a half teaspoon of the 1 percent solution ot a pint of distilled water can be used as the mold preventive-perservative. Drugstores will generally sell it up to about a 5 percent solution, this low concentration being deemed harmless.

*Sodium Orthophenyl phenate [trademark "Dowicide A"] is a powder obtainable in chemical supply stores. Small amounts [1/4 teaspoon to a quart of binding solution] will effectively preserve gums.

This solution can also be used directly on your pastel support if you have a problem with mildew. Experiment with using this solutions on your papers. Remember to let the solution completely dry before you begin your pastel painting.

Solution A

48 Fluid Ounces of Preservative solution

2 level tablespoons gum tragacanth

Note: Gum Tragacanth does not dissolve easily so to encourage the process warm the distilled water when you make your preservative solution then add a couple of drops of any clear dishwashing detergent. Make sure you do not boil your water because it may destroy the preservative.

Solution B

8 Fluid Ounces of preservative solution

8 Fluid Ounces of Solution A

Solution C

24 Fluid Ounces of Preservative solution

8 Fluid Ounces of Solution A

Solution D

24 Fluid Ounces of Preservative solution

4 Fluid Ounces of Solution A

Solution E

24 Fluid Ounces of Preservative solution

2 Fluid Ounces of Solution A

Directions:

Make up the solutions and store in bottles that you have labeled as Solution A-E and Preservative Solution. ( 6 bottles) When you make solution A, which is the mother for all the other solutions, let the mixture soak about twenty-four hours in a warm place while a gel forms on the top. Then whisk the solution until the gel and water become one. If you put this into an old soda bottle, you can gently mix by moving the bottle gently from side to side. Place a cap on the bottle for storage. There may still be some traces of gum or preservative that are not yet absorbed but this is nothing to worry about.

The strength of the binding solution is what determines the softness of the pastel. Here are a few general guidelines for using the solutions.

Solution A: Cadmium red, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, alizarin crimson

Solution B: Cerulean blue

Solution C: Precipitated chalk, titanium white, zinc white, ivory black, viridian, phthalo blue, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, Mars violet, chromium green oxide

Solution D: Raw sienna, yellow ochre, Indian red, Prussian blue

Solution E: Burnt Umber, raw umber

Preservation Solution Alone: Burnt sienna, terre verte

The above formulas have been tested and were taken from an excellent book by Alan Flattman, "The Art of Pastel Painting", Watson Guptill. This book is out of print, but you might find one occasionally on e-Bay.

Additional information was collected from Ralph Mayer's book "The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques

Good lighting helps.

Remember to label those bottles. Keep your trash-can handy and try to work as clean and as organized as you can.

This workshop was done in my home studio with the window open for ventilation. Do not make hand made pastels in your kitchen or use kitchen utensils that that you will use again in your kitchen. Keep your pastel making utensils only for making pastels and keep them as clean as possible at all times. ", Viking Press.

White Starter Paste and White Chalk

Start by grinding
3 parts precipitated chalk
1 part Titanium Dioxide pigment
and a little solution C

12 Tablespoons chalk
4 Tablespoons Titanium Dioxide
Solution C a teaspoon at the time until a paste forms. (15-20 teaspoons)

Experiment here with the amount of Titanium Dioxide you use, especially if you want to use the white paste as your white pastel chalks. Pastel artist, Terry Ludwig tells us that you will need more Titanium Dioxide for the plain white chalks and less chalk mix.

Use a bowl or a flat non-porous surface like glass to mix these ingredients. Mix chalk and pigment dry before adding solution C.

Adjust the mixture with solution C or chalk to form a paste that is the consistency of play dough.

Set this mixture aside. Some will be used as pure white pastel sticks and some used as paste to make color graduations with other pigments. Adjust the amount of Titanium Dioxide in the mixture that you use for plain white chalks.

Deb would like to remind you to think safety first when working with pigments.

Keep the studio clean. After your session with pastel making or working with your new pastels, clean the studio with a vacuum. Wear your dust mask while doing this. Do not blow the pastel dust off anything!

Safety First in Everything!

If you have further questions about health concerns, check with your local health department as well as books especially written for artists about health issues.

Divide the dough ball into smaller pieces and set aside about two thirds of the pieces to be used as white paste stock. Take the other third and shape the dough into pastel sticks.

Lay the white pastel sticks you have made on news print for an hour or two so that the newsprint can absorb excess moisture.

Transfer the pastel sticks to plastic wrap that has been wrinkled. The plastic wrap will keep the pigments from cracking as they dry completely. The pastel sticks should be ready to use within the next day or two. You can test the sticks to see if they are dry by touching them. If they are cool to the touch, they are not dry. Dry pastel sticks do not feel cool.

Lesson continues...