Sennelier "A L´Écu" Soft Pastel Iridescent Colours

It took over three years, around the turn of the Century, to formulate the Sennelier range of Extra Soft Pastels à l'ècu and thus to create one of the largest chromatic ranges of pastels. Throughout the century, this range of tones has evolved, but the heart of its design remains unchanged. A Sennelier extra soft pastel is a high quality pure pigment finely ground with a binder (for pure tones). The High quality composition of à l'écu pastels is the result of a perfect balance between binder and pigment. For gradient shades, increasing amounts of mineral fines are added, ultimately tending towards colored white. The exceptional brightness is the result of the pigment and of the natural mineral fines, discovered by Sennelier in 1905 and that have been used ever since. The manufacturing process of the Sennelier cylindrical pastel does not compress the paste and the pastel dries naturally in open air. The life span of a piece of work is guaranteed by the quality of the pastel, but also by the quality of the substrate. If a lot of overlapping is performed, it is preferable to fix between layers. Avoid, however, fixing the final layer too heavily, as the original vibration of tones will be lost. The range of Pastels à l'écu comprises 525 shades. All tones are made up of delicate shade gradients, tending towards white.