Make your pastel booking website

Binders used for making pastels include gum tragacanth or methyl cellulose. I try to use two different binders when making pastels, so that if one goes wrong, you still have pastels to go on with.

These drawing crayons, called pastels, are made of powdered pigments combined with a minimum of nongreasy binder, usually gum tragacanth or, from the mid-20th century, methyl cellulose.

Aerosol Fixative This spray-on solution forms a protective barrier over your artwork, guarding it against smudging and preserving its colors for years to come.

The binder most popular with pastel makers seems to be Gum Tragacanth, so we have included a recipe for that.

0:02 3:00 My colors were a bit dark. So I decided to add some white pastel to it and broke that down some moreMoreMy colors were a bit dark. So I decided to add some white pastel to it and broke that down some more your colors could be way different than mine.

While hairspray can act as a fixative for pencil, charcoal, or pastel drawings, it is not recommended due to its potential to yellow and degrade the artwork over time. Professional fixatives are specifically formulated to preserve drawings without causing damage.

Melt the beeswax in a clean can by placing it in a pan of water. Warm the wax slowly until melted. Remove the wax from the heat and add stand oil at a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 (oil: wax). These ratios should give a creamy pastel that will harden.

Pastel is fabricated from one or several finely ground pigments, a pulverized inert white filler such as ground calcium carbonate or kaolin, and a minuscule amount of binder such as gum tragacanth.