Powdery artistic pastels with a harder structure, square profile, 7 x 7 mm and length of 75 mm. These pastels are used for thin and contour lines. Ground pumice is used as a filler.
Working with Schmincke’s finest extra soft pastels will give you a completely unique drawing experience. They have an incredibly high concentration of top quality pigment powder held together by the absolute minimum amount of binding agent - just enough to ensure that they remain a stable compound. Unlike many pastels on the market they also do not contain chalk or additives which helps keep their colouration pure and consistent throughout each pastel. This stripped back recipe results in such soft pastels that Schmincke had to design a costly and time consuming manufacturing process to stop them breaking. Each lump of pre-kneaded pastel dough is rolled into rounded skeins which are sectioned by hand and laid onto a sheet. The skeins are then cut by hand with a wire-strung frame and transferred onto wooden palettes where they are left to dry for around 2 weeks. By this time they are so soft that they need to be wrapped by hand and gently placed in their foam packaging.
Toison D'Or Square Soft Pastels are made from some of the world's finest pigments. These square pastels are created with minimal binders and their soft texture means that they distribute colour well. They are slightly firmer than their cylindrical counterparts.