Oil Pastels Were Bad News For Me

[Macy Garcia]

In article <3228DD...@dial.pipex.com>, Jiri Borsky
<bor...@dial.pipex.com> wrote:

> About 7 years ago I bought oil pastels, in England. Unfortunately I do not =
> recall the =
>
> name. =
>
> I did some work with them, and moved onto other things. When, after severa=
> l months, I =
>
> eventually returned to this box of oil pastels I could hardly tell which wa=
> s which =
>
> colour!
> Their surface has turned milky white. This bloom (I suspect wax crystallisi=
> ng?) could be =
>
> scraped away to reveal the original pigmentation underneath. =
>
> With heavy heart I looked up the several pieces I made with these oil paste=
> ls. Yes, =
>
> you=92ve guessed it. All clouded with an unrepairable milky haze. =
>
> Beware.
>

Most not have been a good company. I even have some cheap sets for years
and they are perfectly colored. No clouds. The Sennellier oil pastels I
have seen have been used for years and years with no problems at all.

[Jiri Borsky]

About 7 years ago I bought oil pastels, in England. Unfortunately I do not =
recall the =

name. =

I did some work with them, and moved onto other things. When, after severa=
l months, I =

eventually returned to this box of oil pastels I could hardly tell which wa=
s which =

colour!
Their surface has turned milky white. This bloom (I suspect wax crystallisi=
ng?) could be =

scraped away to reveal the original pigmentation underneath. =

With heavy heart I looked up the several pieces I made with these oil paste=
ls. Yes, =

you=92ve guessed it. All clouded with an unrepairable milky haze. =

Beware.

I still use oil pastels in the springtime, but only to mark seed-trays in m=
y =

greenhouse. :-(

Jiri
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/borsky/

[Brenda Romans]

I just read about this problem in a book called "oil Pastel" by Kenneth
Leslie. He reckons that it could be caused by poor quality pastels with
paraffin or animal fat which separates out because of rapid changes in
temperature or humidity. You can brush it off with a brush or a knife
or fix the work (with something appropriate) before it happens.

I have never seen the problem and I have some very cheap pastels.
Obviously not the right brand.

NOTE -- Do NOT use soft pastel fixative on oil pastel on black paper.
The paper gets a nasty flaky white film.

Cheers

Brenda
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brenda Romans
Email: bro...@greyseal.demon.co.uk
------------------------------------------------------------------------