At the source of colour - best artist pigments with minimal binder

Working with Schmincke pastels leads you back to the origin of colour. Our round sticks consists only of the finest artists’ pigments (without chalk!) and a minimum amount of binder. The binder content is so small that the medium-find ground pigments only just achieve a stable bond.

Pastels from the manufacture

The unusual formulation which guarantees a unique strong colour application, also requires an equally unique production process: traditional craftsmanship. In this traditional and time-consuming process, screw presses are used first to shape the pre-kneaded dough into round strands which are afterwards removed by hand and cut into the right length in wire-strung frames. The sticks are still damp and are left to air dry for 8 days before they are individually labelled by hand.  
Due to the particularly fine formulas, machine production of our pastels is not possible - the precious sticks could break.
 

The assortment – Unlimited variety of colours from light to dark 

Our colour range includes a total of 400 intense shades. 
There are 5 shades in each of the 75 selected colours: In addition to the solid colour (D), there is a black graduation (B) and 3 grades of white  (H+, M++, O+++). 
In addition to this balanced range we offer a 10-step neutral grey series, 5 unusual dark shades, gold, silver, 2 black shades, white and 5 special pearlescent shades for special effects.