Creating your own pastels offers a unique connection to the artistic process, transforming raw materials into vibrant sticks of color tailored precisely to your needs. It’s a journey that blends chemistry, craft, and creativity. While commercially produced pastels offer convenience, the hands-on experience of making your own provides unparalleled control over texture, hardness, and hue saturation. It allows artists to replicate historical palettes or develop entirely signature shades. The fundamental components are simple: pigment for color, a filler or chalk for body and texture, and a binder to hold it all together.
Understanding the Core Ingredients
The heart of any pastel is the pigment. This is what provides the color. Pigments can be sourced from various places, ranging from natural earth minerals, finely ground, to synthetically produced compounds offering intense and consistent hues. When selecting pigments, consider their lightfastness – how resistant they are to fading when exposed to light. Artist-grade pigments usually provide this information. Handling pigments requires care; many are fine powders that can become airborne easily.
Pigments: The Source of Color
Your choice of pigment dictates the final color. Earth pigments like ochres, siennas, and umbers offer subtle, natural tones. Synthetic inorganic pigments, such as cadmiums (use with caution due to toxicity), cobalts, and ultramarines, provide bright, saturated colors. Modern synthetic organic pigments offer an incredibly wide range of brilliant hues. Always research the properties of your chosen pigments. Some mix readily, while others might react unexpectedly. Start with a basic palette and gradually expand as you gain experience.
Chalks and Fillers: Building Body and Texture
Pure pigment often results in a pastel that is too intense, too expensive, or has an undesirable working property. Fillers, often referred to generically as ‘chalks,’ are added to modify these characteristics. Common fillers include:
- Precipitated Calcium Carbonate: Often called ‘whiting,’ this creates a softer, smoother pastel and helps achieve lighter tints without weakening the structure significantly.
- Kaolin Clay: A fine white clay that adds smoothness and a slightly harder texture than calcium carbonate. It can also act as a weak binder.
- Talc (Magnesium Silicate): Adds a distinctly smooth, almost slippery feel to the pastel.
Binders: The Glue Holding it Together
The binder is the adhesive element that holds the pigment and filler particles together in stick form, yet remains weak enough to release the color onto the support with minimal pressure. Common binders for pastels are water-soluble gums:
- Gum Tragacanth: A traditional binder derived from a plant resin. It needs to be soaked in water (often with a preservative) to form a gel. It creates strong but relatively brittle pastels.
- Methyl Cellulose: A synthetic cellulose derivative, readily available and easy to dissolve in water. It tends to create slightly softer pastels compared to tragacanth.
- Gum Arabic: While more common in watercolor, it can be used for harder pastels or pastel pencils.
The Crafting Process: From Powder to Stick
With your ingredients gathered, the transformation begins. Precision and patience are key throughout these stages.
Mixing the Dry Ingredients
First, accurately measure your chosen pigment(s) and filler(s). Use a scale for consistency, especially if you plan to make repeatable colors. Combine the dry powders thoroughly in a bowl. A spatula or palette knife works well. For the smoothest possible pastel, you can sift the dry ingredients together through a fine mesh sieve to break up any clumps. Ensure an even distribution before adding any liquid – streaks of unmixed filler or pigment will be very apparent in the final pastel.
Introducing the Binder: Forming the Dough
This is arguably the most critical stage, requiring careful addition of the prepared binder solution. Add the liquid binder gradually to the dry mixture, incorporating it with a palette knife or spatula. Aim for a stiff paste or dough-like consistency. It should be cohesive enough to hold together when squeezed but not sticky or wet. If it’s too dry and crumbly, add a tiny bit more binder solution. If it becomes too wet, you may need to add a small, proportional amount of the dry pigment/filler mix, though this can alter the final color slightly. Some experienced makers use a glass muller and slab to thoroughly combine the pigment and binder, ensuring each particle is coated, which leads to smoother, higher-quality pastels. This mulling process is similar to how oil paints were traditionally made.
Always wear a dust mask when handling dry pigments and fillers. Many fine powders can be harmful if inhaled. Work in a well-ventilated area and clean up spills promptly with a damp cloth to avoid raising dust. Safety glasses are also recommended.
Shaping the Pastels: Extrusion and Rolling
Once the paste reaches the correct consistency, it’s time to shape it into sticks.
- Hand Rolling: The simplest method. Take a portion of the dough and roll it between your palms or on a clean, non-porous surface (like wax paper or a glass slab) into a cylindrical shape. Aim for consistent thickness. This method gives a charming, slightly irregular, handmade look.
- Extrusion: For more uniform sticks, an extruder can be used. This could be a dedicated pastel extruder, a modified heavy-duty caulking gun, or a sturdy clay gun fitted with a nozzle of the desired diameter. Load the paste into the extruder barrel and force it out onto a surface lined with wax paper or parchment paper. Cut the extruded lengths into desired stick sizes using a sharp knife or wire cutter.
The Crucial Drying Phase
Newly formed pastels are fragile and saturated with moisture. They must be dried carefully to prevent cracking or warping. Place the shaped pastels on a drying rack (a cake cooling rack lined with paper towels works well) ensuring air can circulate around them. Let them air dry at room temperature in a location away from direct sunlight or heat sources. Drying time varies significantly based on ambient humidity, temperature, pastel thickness, and binder concentration – it can take anywhere from 24 hours to several days, or even a week for thick sticks. Do not rush this process by applying heat (like from an oven or hairdryer), as this almost guarantees cracking. Patience is essential. The pastels are fully dry when they feel hard and room temperature to the touch, and no longer leave damp marks on paper towels.
Finishing Touches and Considerations
Once completely dry, your homemade pastels are almost ready. You might notice a slight powdery residue on the surface; gently wipe this off with a soft cloth or paper towel. If the ends are rough from cutting, they can be smoothed slightly by rubbing them gently on fine-grit sandpaper. Remember to label your pastels, especially if you’re creating specific color mixes or experimenting with different binder ratios. Store them in a padded box, separated by color or hardness, to prevent breakage and unwanted color transfer.
Making pastels is an iterative process. Keep detailed notes on your pigment types, filler ratios, binder concentrations, and mixing observations. This documentation is invaluable for replicating successful batches and troubleshooting issues like cracking or excessive hardness. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
Crafting your own pastels is a deeply rewarding endeavor. It demystifies the tools artists use and provides a tangible link between raw materials and creative expression. While it requires patience and a bit of trial and error, the ability to create custom colors and textures perfectly suited to your artistic vision is an experience unlike any other. From selecting the earthiest ochres to mixing the most vibrant synthetic hues, the journey of pastel making enriches the final artwork created with them.
