Tyra Smith, Cloud 9, Tips & Techniques

Pastels

Ellen (Evo) Gordon evo@pobox.com
The indirect approach: Create areas of soft color by the use of self-made stencils. Cut a shape from tracing paper, such as a circle, oval, rectangle, or free form, leaving plenty of paper around it. Exacto knives are good for this. Place this open shape on your card. Take the pastel of your choice and ring the opening with color. Then take a soft tissue such as Kleenex or even tp (toilet paper) and rub the color toward the center of the open shape. When you lift the stencil, you'll have a beautiful area of color with a sharp edge which softens toward the middle. Before you stamp in this area, lightly spray with a workable fixative. This bonds the pastel color with your paper so it won't smear. You can then stamp whatever your heart desires and color it in. You can use your pastels to do this or colored pencil or markers.

If you choose to use your pastels to color in your stampings, be sure to spray your finished card with fixative again. Pastels require that you "fix" them to insure they bond with the paper. The spray also makes your colors more vibrant and takes away the "chalky" look.

Another idea: create your own background paper! Cut a shape from tracing paper... such as a leaf, a star, a heart, a flower, a shamrock, a bunny rabbit (let your imagination soar!) and completely cover the paper with these soft shapes. Be sure to spray with fixative when finished. You can stamp and color directly on top of this paper or use it as a background and layer on top.

From: Tyra Smith Cloud9@netnet.net You can use an exacto knife and scrape it down the sides of pastel sticks to create a "powder", then use a make up sponge or eye shadow applicator to put the color on your card with. Pastels blend wonderfully, and I haven't found any other medium that makes a more beautiful sunrise or sunset. You can layer color on top of color, to create new colors. Pastel pencils are wonderful to use as well. I use it to add distinctive touches to my art...like branches on a tree, fringe on a garment, grass leaves, etc.

From: tracy.yamamoto@lmco.com You know i bought a set of pastels... it didn't say chalk or oil, but it was definitely the chalk... called them `soft pastels'. Anyways, I seem to be having difficulty in getting the color to stick to the paper. I get the puddle of powder, but when i use the make up applicator and rub it onto the paper, no color comes off! how come? hm... maybe I should just try fingers.

Tracy Yamamoto and Tyra Smith SUBJECT: Re: I bought the pastels but...

Tracy: just got an art supply catalog in the mail today, and saw that there appear to be 3 types of pastels on the market. Soft Pastels, Hard Pastels and Oil Pastels.

Tyra: I checked my box of pastels over again, and all it says is Artist Pastel sticks. Hmmmm. Maybe, it's possible, you need to use the "hard pastels" rather than the "soft pastels". I never even guessed there would be a difference.... I suppose we learn something new every day don't we???

Tracy: if you ask me, it just looks like kindergarten chalk in fancy shapes in a nice box. :P for $11?

Tyra: I was thinking, what you MIGHT try is coloring DIRECTLY ON the paper/cardstock with the soft pastels sticks.... then kinda smearing it >around with your finger or what ever ... or not. :-)

Tracy maybe... i just love how people color in stencils, but i can't seem to find a medium i like. oh well. the convention is the end of this month, i'll have to learn then...

Tyra: keep at it, and I'll keep my thinking hat on. I wonder..... if you added a bit of water to the pastel chalk powder.....what would happen? What would it look like??? Hmmmm Swipe it with a finger....try a paint brush...hmmmmm. Might now work at all, but who knows???

Tracy: yeah, probably the last thing i'd ever think of doing to make these pastels work, huh? :)

Tyra Smith Cloud9@netnet.net
I have a trick to using the pastels. I'll try to explain as best I can. There are 3 types of pastels (all of which come in stick form) oil, hard and soft. The hard and soft LOOK EXACTLY alike, but work differently. I use the HARD pastels. These pasetls, when colored OVER pencil work, give a very unique affect. For instance, if you color a line of trees with green pencils... then you use the pastels to create like a sunset or sunrise, you brush them OVER the trees, and above to look like sun/sky. The yellows/oranges/reds of the sun will actually look like they are shining THRU the trees, from back behind them to the front of them out and towards you. it's REALLY cool, and the trees retain their green coloring. With the pastels, and pencils too, you can layer color over color... never loosing any one color, but they do combine very well. Pencils are translucent in nature... so two colors combine well to create a third, with hints of the first and second colors still remaining. Pastels blend beautiful....either to create a third color, or to have a color peeking thru amdist other colors. This is how I use my pastels. I take a craft knife, and scrape it down the side, creating a little puddle of colored powder. Then I use eye shadow applicators and make up sponges (the cheapo ones you can get for next to nothing at dollar stores and Wal-mart) and "swish" the color on the areas I want it on. That's all I did with that background on the card. You can get as exact, or not, as you want. Sometimes I use my fingers to swish color...but you have to be careful not to get oil from your hands on the cards as you work the pastels or you end up with a very visible finger print...LOL The key to using pencils...is to NOT look for just the right color to use, but combine and layer multiple colors. You create shading and depth this way...start out very light, and work your way up to dark. You can layer a light coat of black over just about any of darker colors to create an instant shading affect...and white over a color will lighten it and blend it.

I've also started using pastel pencils for some detail work when I'm using pencils and pastel sticks. They work really well for shading and little details you want to stand out.

Tip Provided by: Elaine Le Page elaine.lepage@ntlworld.com Originating source unknown.

Pastel is the most basic way to work with pigment, because in the pastel technique, pigment is practically left in its natural state and is bound with minimal amount of natural glue. There is a large variety of natural glues (see watercolor binders) that can be used in Pastel making, starting with any sort of starch- methylcellulose (Tylose), or the most traditional one... Tragacanth

Tragacanth is best suited for pastel-making, because it has a very high pigment binding strength, while not sticking to itself. This means that if you have gum Tragacanth on your fingers, they won't stick together.

The Gum Tragacanth (full strength) is prepared with the following ingredients:

1 tablespoon of Gum Tragacanth
8oz. of Water

Directions: Mix the Gum Tragacanth into the water and allow the mixture to sit for 1-2 days. The mixture should set up into a gel. At this point a mold inhibitor may be added if desired. For an even mixture, add a small amount of water and stir the gel with a blender or hand powered egg-beater. Not all Pigments react the same, when water and binder is added to them and they must therefore be blended with varying Gum Tragacanth solutions and Champagne Chalk, which makes hard Pastels softer. In order to adjust for the required varying levels of Gum Tragacanth, the Gum Tragacanth should be thinned into the following proportions:

A - Full Strength B - 1 Part Solution A to 2 Equal Parts Water (30%)
C - 1 Part Solution B to 2 Equal Parts Water (10%)
D - 1 Part Solution C to 2 Equal Parts Water (3%)
E - 1 Part Solution D to 2 Equal Parts Water (1%)

How to Make Pastels:

Place a small mound of Pigment onto a clean non-porous surface. Add a small amount of the Gum Tragacanth Solution Work the Gum Tragacanth into the Pigment with a palette knife or for larger quantities mix in Mortar and Pestle or with a Muller. Work Mixture into a rubbery consistency. If the dough is too wet it sticks to paper and if its too dry the pastels will fall apart before they dry. Roll the dough on newspaper, until a pastel stick shape is formed. Allow Pastel Sticks to dry for a day or two, before use. This is the basic formula for Pastel Making. To figure out required Gum Tragacanth Solutions and amounts of Champagne Chalk, further experimentation is suggested.

Generally to allow for smoother mark making, most Pastels require an addition of Champagne Chalk,. With most Pigments (especially the Organic Manufactured Pigments) the Pastel Dough can be adulterated extensively with Champagne Chalk, without compromising the color's richness. Here is a partial list of binder solutions and pigments that work well together:

SOLUTION B:

Titanium White
Titan Buff (Natural Titanium)
Iron Oxide, Black Bluish
Ultramarine Blue, greenish light
Ultramarine Blue, reddish
Ultramarine Red, pink
Ultramarine Violet, Medium Blue
Ultramarine Violet, Reddish Dark

SOLUTION C:

Zinc Oxide
Slate Grey, neutral grey
Permanent Yellow HKA
Raw Sienna
French Ochres
Iron Oxide Mars Red
Persian Red
Terre Ercolano

SOLUTION D:

Champagne Chalk
Bologna Chalk
Kaolin
Blanc Fix
Ivory Black
Yellow Iron Oxide
Hematite (not fine grind)
English Red

SOLUTION E:

Italian Dark Ochre, transparent orangish
Burnt Umber, Cyprus, very dark
Fawn Ochre, German light
German Ochre, light warm brownish
Satin Ochre, greenish brownish
Bohemian Green Earth
Pompei Red

PLEASE NOTE: Since working with pastels emits a lot of powdered pigment, working with a dust mask and gloves and protective clothing is highly advisable. Please be aware of all available safety information and Warning labels.