How to Make Oil Pastels

How To Make Oil Pastels by Kenneth Leslie -exerpt from Oil Pastel: Materials and Technique
for Todays Artist

What You Will Need:

Pigment
Turpentine
Stand Oil
Blended White Beeswax
A large can that fits in an old pot, to serve as a double boiler
Large palette knife
Soft clay or homemade modeling dough (see recipe below)
Plate glass or plexiglass on which to grind pigments
Rubber gloves to protect hands from hot drips
-
(Recipe for modeling dough)
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons cream of tartar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together in a pot over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick
and no longer sticky. turn out onto waxed paper to cool. If stored in a sealed container in the
refrigerator, the dough will keep for months.

WARNING: Many of the ingredients are highly flammable, especially the wax, mineral spirits,
and oil. Most pigments are toxic in some way, and many people are highly allergic to them. Wear
proper mask to avoid accidental inhalation of pigment dust. Do not mix oil pastels with improper
equipment orin an inappropriate space. Do not try this in your kitchen only a well-ventilated
studio, when you are fully alert. Unless you are experienced, use only the safest, least toxic
pigments. Stay away from cadmium, lead, arsenic, and other highly toxic pigments.

Instructions for making oil pastels:

1. The first thing you must make are molds for the molten pastel mixture. Heavy duty aluminum
foil works well. Tear off a 20 by 6 sheet and fold the length in thirds, for a thick, stable wall.
Lay the foil flat on a table and place a dowel that is the thickness of the desired pastel in the
middle. A broomstick works quite well. Bring the ends of the foil up to meet, and roll them
together back down to the dowel, to make a strong, sealed seam. Slip the foil tube off the dowel,
and implant it in a lump of modeling dough or clay, to hold it upright while pouring into the
molds. You will need several molds, enough for the volume of pastel you are making. Other
shapes (square, triangular, and so on) are also possible, folded without a dowel, if the seam is
well sealed.

2. Prepare a can for pouring molten pastel by bending the lip into a V with a pair of pliers. This
will eliminate the need for a funnel later. Pour the dry pigment into the can. Because youll be
adding more ingredients, and you will want to avoid spills, fill no more than a third of the can.
Make a paste by gradually stirring in as little turpentine as possible.

3. Dump the pigment paste onto a palette plate glass or plexiglass is best. With a large palette
knife, grind the paste until it has a smooth consistency with no lumps. Return the paste to the
can, and cover it to keep it moist.

4. Break up the beeswax into chunks and put it into a clean can. Put the can into a pot containing
a few inches of water. If the can floats a bit, spill out some of the water in the pot, to be sure that
the can of wax sits on the bottom. Put the pot on a hot plate. Dont use a burner with an open
flame, because that poses too much of a fire hazard; an electric hot plate is safer to use. On
medium heat, slowly warm the water bath, until the wax thoroughly melts. You can stir it to
separate the chunks.

5. Remove the can from the water bath, and carefully pour in stand oil at a ratio of one part oil to
three or four parts wax by volume. Too much oil will produce a stick that wont harden, but you
need enough to make a creamy pastel. The cold oil may solidify some of the wax, so return the
brew to the water bath until it is smooth again.

6. Remove the oil/wax concoction and pour some of it into the can of pigment paste. Again,
varying the proportion of pigment to oil/wax will give you different results. The matter is further
complicated by the fact that various pigments absorb oil differently, as discussed earlier. Any
good handbook on artists materials will list the absorption ratios of pigments, which will serve
as a guide for how much oil/wax you will need to mix in. Start out with equal parts pigment and
medium. The brew should be as thick as you can make it without being grainy from too much
pigment. The more oil/wax used, the more transparent the pastel will be, allowing more of the
paper or undercolors below to show through. If you dont use enough oil/wax, the pigment wont
bind together sufficiently and the resultant stick will crumble when you try to use it. (If you dont
like the consistency of the finished sticks, simply melt them down again and adjust the recipe.)
Reheat the brew in the water bath, and stir it until smooth and creamy.

7. Using the V lip bent into the can, it is fairly easy to pour the mixture into the molds. There will
be some spilling and ripping, so be sure to work over newspaper or a drop cloth. Keep one
gloved hand on the mold as you pour, to be sure it wont tip over. After the pastels have cooled
and contracted for a few minutes, wells will form in the center, which can be refilled with
more molten pastel.

8. Allow them plenty of time to cool several hours or they will crush when you try to use
them. You can speed the cooling up a bit by putting the sticks in the fridge. When cold they will
still seem quite soft, but after a week or so, they will cure a bit more. If you have poured without
drips, the same mold foil can serve as a wrapper. Peel off only an inch from one end. If the mold
foil is messy, remove it and replace it with a fresh foil wrapper. Store extra sticks in their foil
with the ends crimped down to keep them fresh.

Last Updated: 5 years ago

By Onya

Tags: Accidental Inhalation, Aluminum Foil, Broomstick, Cup Salt, Cups Flour, Double Boiler,
Dowel, Duty Aluminum, Exerpt, Improper Equipment, Mineral Spirits, Oil Pastels, Palette
Knife, Plate Glass, Plexiglass, Rubber Gloves, Soft Clay, Stand Oil, Toxic Pigments, Waxed
Paper

How to Make Your Own Oil Pastels

by Marion Boddy-Evans
Updated May 11, 2017

The basic ingredients of pastels are simple: pigment, a filler, and a binder. You start by dissolving
the binder, mix in the pigment and binder, get the consistency right, then roll out your pastels and
leave them to dry. It will take a bit of practice and experimenting, so keep records of what you do
so you can recreate your successes!

Cheap Pastels Recipe

Ingredients

Quarter cup of rolled or crushed oats (combined with the water to make a binder)

A quart (just over a liter) of water (preferably distilled so there isn't any chlorine in it)

Two tablespoons of powdered tempera or poster paint (for pigment). Another option is to
collect leftover dust when using bought pastels and use them to make new ones (the mixture of
colors can give a beautiful gray)

Half a cup of unscented talcum/baby powder (for filler)

Steps

1. Put the water in a pot and set it on the stove to boil. Add the oats and leave it to boil for five
minutes.

2. Pour the oats mixture through a fine sieve to strain out the oats. You'll be using the water only.

3. Mix the talc with the paint powder, then add a teaspoon of the strained oats water. You're after a
consistency like dough or putty consistency, which sticks to itself, not your fingers.

4. Roll out into sausages, put on absorbent paper (newspaper is a cheap option), then cut into
pieces about two inches (6 cm) long.

5. Leave to dry at room temperature, at least 24 hours.

Tips

If your pastels are very crumbly, your binder was too weak; add some more oats next time. If
your pastels are very hard, your binder was too strong; break up the pastel and dissolve it into
some more binder.

You could use diluted wallpaper paste as a binder.

Create tints of a particular color by adding more filler or white pigment.

True Pastels Recipe

Ingredients

Gum arabic or gum tragacanth (binder)

Distilled water

Pigment

Chalk or kaolin/China clay (filler)

Steps

1. Dissolve the binder in the water in the ratio 1:20 (one part binder to 20 parts water).

2. Mix filler and pigment in the ratio 2:1 (two parts filler to one part pigment).

3. Add the binder liquid to the filler/pigment slowly, until it has the consistency of dough or putty.

4. Roll out and dry as described above.

Tips

Gum arabic makes a harder pastel than gum tragacanth.

Damar resin mixed with plenty of white spirit or turpentine can be used as a binder.

Oil Pastels and Oil Sticks: Characteristics

and Uses
by Lisa Marder
Updated June 09, 2016

Oil pastels and oil sticks are both excellent media to work with for rich color, immediacy,
convenience, and achieving a variety of effects. They are perfect for traveling and plein air
painting. While they are both made of oil, wax, and pigment, there is an important difference.
The main difference is that oil pastels are made with a non-drying mineral oil, so never
completely dry, whereas oil sticks are basically oil paint in stick form, made with linseed or
safflower oil, and will eventually dry and cure like oil paint, developing a firm skin and
hardening throughout.
Oil Pastels

Oil pastels were first created in 1925 by the company, Sakura. They were called Cray-Pas as they
were a cross between wax crayons and soft pastels, hence cray-pas, providing the color and
brilliance of soft pastel without the mess. Whereas soft pastels are made from a gum or methyl
cellulose binder, oil pastels are made of pigment combined with a non-drying mineral oil and
wax binder.

In 1949 Henri Sennelier created the first version of oil pastels for professionals after artist Pablo
Picasso approached him two years earlier asking Sennelier for "a colored pastel I could paint on
anything ... without having to prepare or prime the canvas."

Although oil pastels harden somewhat, particularly in cooler temperatures, they never
completely dry on the painting and remain the same viscosity throughout the layers of paint.
Unlike oil paint, or oil sticks, they do not dry by oxidation (exposure to air), so do not develop a
hard skin and cure.

Although they do not smudge nearly as easily as soft pastels, finished paintings will still need to
be protected by glass or varnish if you want to protect them completely from smudging and dust,
particularly if you use thick layers of oil pastel.

Although you can purchase less expensive student-grade oil pastels that are suitable for use by
children in the classroom, for more painterly pastels - those that blend more easily and that
provide you with the full potential of oil pastel - it is good to spend more money on professional
grade oil pastels.

These have a higher pigment to binder ratio and are creamier, going on to the support more
smoothly. Sennelier, Holbein, and Caran d'Ache are some of the best brands. See this article
about different brands of oil pastel. Professional grade oil pastels are non-acidic. If combining
brands within the same painting it is best to keep it within the same quality range.

Oil pastels can be used on practically any surface, smooth or rough, depending on your own
preference. They can be used on such surfaces as watercolor paper, pastel paper, drawing paper
(the thicker the better), canvas (primed or unprimed, although it should be sized) wood, metal,
even glass. It is good to work on a firm support, though, so either work on a pad, or put a
backing such as foam core behind your paper or canvas while you work. Ampersand Pastelbord
(Buy from Amazon) comes in several different colors and is an excellent surface on which to
paint with oil pastels.

You can use many different tools for blending oil pastels, even your fingers. In fact, body heat
from your fingers is useful in warming the oil pastel and making it more malleable. You can also
use tortillons, or blending stumps (commonly used in drawing), paper towel, tissue, q-tips, soft
cloths, and stiff brushes.

Sennelier makes an Oil Pastel Colorless Blender (Buy from Amazon) that is very useful for
blending.
For sgraffito techniques you can use many different tools, such as paint shapers, the end of a
paint brush, palette knives, or other pointy tools. An old plastic credit card can be used to scrape
off larger areas as well as finer lines. Combs and forks can be used to create patterns in the oil
pastel.

Oil pastels can be layered, although because they don't dry there will be some blending of the
color as you layer. You can control the amount of blending by the amount of pressure you apply
in your stroke. Oil pastels can be combined with oil painting mediums such as linseed oil and
thinners such as turpentine or turpenoid (an odorless turpentine) (Buy from Amazon) for
different blending and painterly effects.

Oil pastels can easily be cleaned up with paper towels or baby wipes for your hands. It is good to
have paper towel on hand to clean the pastel sticks as you use them to help keep your colors
pure.

For plein air painting in warm weather keep your oil pastels in a cooler with ice if the
temperature gets above 80 degrees in order to keep the sticks from melting and becoming too
soft.

How to Seal Oil Pastels

Because oil pastels will never completely dry they should be sealed when finished. Sennelier
D'Artigny Oil Pastel Fixative (Buy from Amazon) is a sealant specifically made for oil pastel.
After four light coat applications it protects your oil pastel painting from smudging, scratches,
and dust. It has a glossy finish and is totally transparent, so does not alter the colors of the
painting. It makes the painting feel dry by creating a barrier layer on top of the oil pastel
painting.

There are other brands available but you should test them out before applying them to a finished
painting. Some may alter the color slightly or interact with the type of paper or brand of oil
pastel that you use. Make sure to follow the directions on the fixative can and spray only in a
well-ventilated area.

For maximum protection of your oil pastel artwork you should frame it behind glass or
plexiglass.

Oil Sticks, Paintstiks, or Oil Bars

Oil sticks (also called paintstiks or oil bars by some manufacturers) are actually oil paint in stick
form. They feel and smell more like oil paint than do oil pastels. They consist of pigment
combined with wax and linseed or safflower oil (as opposed to non-drying mineral oil as in oil
pastels), and then rolled into crayon form. They are then wrapped in paper and can be used for
drawing and painting on a surface just as they are, mixed on a palette and applied with a brush or
palette knife, or mixed with any medium or thinner you would typically use with oil paints.
The oil stick medium dries like oil paint and develops a solid skin on its surface as it dries,
sealing the wet buttery paint underneath.

There is some controversy, though, as to whether the paint dries completely and cures (dries
completely through) over time as oil paintings do, or whether the wax in the oil stick prevents it
from drying completely.

Because the surface of the oil stick dries, it will also dry between uses, preserving the paint
beneath it. The hardened tip can easily be rubbed off with a towel or rag, or peeled off with a
palette knife to expose the softer paint underneath.

Oil sticks generally come in larger sizes than do oil pastels and are priced more like tubes of oil
paint. Specific ingredients and concentrations vary by manufacturer but, like oil paints, more
expensive oil sticks generally have a higher pigment to binder ratio and are creamier. R&F
Pigment Sticks (Buy from Amazon) are a popular brand, as are Sennelier Oil Sticks (Buy from
Amazon), Shiva Paintstiks (Buy from Amazon), and Winsor & Newton Oilbars (Buy from
Amazon). Read a review of these four brands here.

Oil sticks can be used on any surface that is also suitable for oil paint. Canvas or paper should
be sized and primed to protect them from damaging effects of the oil.

Can Oil Stick, Oil Pastel, and Oil Paint Be Used Together?

Oil sticks, oil pastels, and oil paints can be used together, but if you are interested in archival
quality there are some guidelines you should follow.

Oil sticks, oil pastels, and oil paints are compatible, but it is best in a mixed media piece if one
media is dominant, and other media are used as accents or details. This will help the structural
integrity of the piece.

If using oil sticks or oil pastels as a first layer, use them thinly as an underpainting or drawing for
an oil painting. Use the colors that you will be using in the painting. As you paint with the oil
paint over it, the medium in the oil paint will help dissolve the oil pastel or oil stick and blend it
in with the oil paint.

Because oil pastel never really dries completely, it should generally be used as detail or accent
color either with thin oil paint so that it dissolves into the paint, or on top of oil paint that has
dried. Oil paint should not be painted over thick oil pastel because the oil pastel will never
completely dry and will remain workable and unstable, possibly causing cracking and flaking of
the oil paint layer.

You can combine oil pastels and oil sticks, particularly if you use the oil pastels for final details
and accents. It is possible to combine both media when wet, although archival quality will be
compromised. The ratio of oil pastel to oil stick, which is paint, will influence drying, so you may
need to frame the final piece under glass or plastic.
 Oil sticks can easily be used with oil paints because they are, in fact, oil paints in stick form.
However you should consider them to be "fatter" than the paints due to the wax content. They
will dissolve with whatever medium and thinners you normally use with oil paint.

Summary

Oil pastels and oil sticks are both versatile media for the professional artist. Oil pastels are made
with mineral oil and never dry completely, remaining workable forever, unless sealed with a
fixative. They should be framed under glass or plexiglass for maximum protection. Oil sticks are
basically thick oil paint in stick form and dry completely over time just as oil paints do. They do
not need to be under glass and can be varnished with varnish appropriate for oil painting.

Think fat over lean, or thick over thin, when using both oil pastels and oil sticks. Save your
heavy impasto layers for later in the painting. Both oil pastels and oil sticks are good to use
thinly for drawing and sketching out a painting in oil, using the colors you plan to use in your oil
painting. You can draw with both oil pastels and oil sticks directly onto many different surfaces,
preferably a support that is treated to protect it from the oil in the oil stick (not necessary for the
inert mineral oil in the oil pastel). If using both oil pastels and oil sticks in the same painting, or
with oil paint, it is best to use the oil pastels on top of the dried surface of the oil sticks or oil
paint as an accent or detail.

Further Reading and Viewing

Oil Pastel: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artists (Buy from Amazon), by Kenneth D.
Leslie

Oil Pastel for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter (Buy from
Amazon), by John Elliot

Oil Pastel Society

Explore Oil Pastels with Robert Sloan

Sennelier Oil Pastels/Blick Art Materials (video)

Sennelier Oil Pastels (video)

Painting Techniques with Sennelier Oil Sticks

Sennelier Oil Sticks with Joe Pinelli

Oil Pastel Landscape Demonstration

All About Pastels: Using Oil-Paint Sticks, The Smithsonian Studio Arts Blog