0

Pastel Care​

How to care for your Unison Colour Soft Pastels

Giving your Unison Colour soft pastels a little regular TLC means they’ll always deliver the very best results for you.

We asked some of our Associate Artists for their tips on how to look after your pastels.

If your pastels get dirty you can clean them in a number of ways*

  • Use a soft brush and gently dust over them.
  • Fill a container with rice or grain and place your pastels inside.  Give the box a gentle shake to remove the dirt.
  • Use a soft cloth, paper towel or even toilet paper and gently roll the pastel over it.

Try to store your pastels in the foam/box that they came in.

If you break your pastel, keep the shards!  They’re useful for fine detail work.

Some pastels have a scratchy exterior.  They’re not faulty, they just need a slighty extra hard rub to remove the outer surface before you get to the softer underneath.

When you’re cleaning your pastels it’s great to sort them into their different shades.  That way you can see whether you’re running low or need to add more Unison Colour pastels to your collection!

When travelling with pastels, either keep the boxes they came in and transport them that way, or you can buy bespoke travel boxes.  Just make sure they’re well padded.

Always treat your pastels with great respect – they are your most precious tools.

*cleaning pastels can be a dusty and messy business.  It maybe necessary to wear a mask if dust is an issue.

Colour Chart Guidance

We believe the colours in our web based colour chart are a faithful representation of our pastel range. But with any colours portrayed on the internet, there’s a whole heap of variables which mean that what you see, may not be what we see. That said, there’s some things that can be done to mitigate some of the variance.

Mobile phone and tablet screens tend to be pretty good for colour, so they’re always worth using, when viewing our colour chart.

We hate to say it, but cheaper computer displays, including laptops, can be rather hit and miss, in both colour and contrast, so they might not reveal the depth of the colour, as well as the true tone.

If you’re really keen on getting your computer up to speed on colour representation, you can use a calibration device to reach your display's fullest potential.

With all that said, if you think we’re way off the mark with any of the colours then, by all means let us know, and we’ll give it another shot.