Over the years during which I have been working with pastels I’ve acquired several ways of working that I have never seen in the published manuals about the technique. They vary in importance, but I find that they all add to the efficiency of the way I work. I thought it might be a good idea to pass these on to others.
Sets of pastels usually provide sheets of foam to protect the content of the box, and artists normally use these to lay out the sticks of pastel while they are in use. I much prefer to use sheets of ordinary paper towels for this purpose. If you use the foam sheets provided they become contaminated with pastel residue very quickly, and the sticks in use are liable to pick up unwanted colour. The use of disposable paper towels helps to keep your pastels cleaner.
It is sometimes necessary to lift out pastel after it has been applied to the support, either to correct errors or as a means of developing detail. The manuals I have looked at usually advise the use of small hogs’ hair brushes to do this. There are two disadvantages to this method. It is liable to leave a fuzzy edge, and the loose pigment that has been dissolved is liable to settle in areas of the image where it is unwelcome. I find it helpful to use small pieces of adhesive tape of one kind or another (such as masking tape or parcel tape). If you really need a clean edge then wrap a small piece round a sharp item such as the blade of a craft knife. Adhesive tape can also be very useful where pigment has fall by accident onto areas of the support in which it is not wanted, and with some surfaces can be much more effective than using an eraser.
I hope that’s useful. Every little helps!