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Oil pastels - melt risk?
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Message
Posted
From my limited experience Gudrun...by their very nature they all melt n the sun.
Maybe tuck yourself in the shade to work and possibly use one of those cold packs you can put on sprains or cool wine with in a box and put the pastels on top of them. They also melt in your fingers.... horrid little things 😢
Posted
They're wax, or contain a high proportion of wax - so yes, they need to be kept cool and out of direct sunlight - prolonged sunlight at least, and heat of any kind. They wouldn't do well in the shelf part of a car by the window (there MUST be a word for that! Rather than the phrase I've used - but I know what I mean, anyway...).
But a lot of people use them for creating quick sketches out of doors, and I doubt they're in much more danger of actually melting than a wax candle would be - they can be a bit clammy in the fingers on a hot day, though - Sylvia's more your outdoor type than I am, and it sounds as if she speaks from experience....
Posted
Hate to say it Sylvia (cancel Lie Mode), but I know they're called Oil Pastels, but they aren't oil paint. They never fully dry (which oil paint does, in the sense at least in which it 'cures') - and they're mostly wax. Wax crayons, on the other hand, are all wax plus pigment, and bend in your fingers if it's at all warm.
There are also oil sticks, which ARE mostly oil, but also have to contain wax or some other binder- even so, they contain more oil than wax, and I would imagine (I've no intention of trying them) are extremely messy in use. Parcel shelf is indeed the term for which I searched so vainly - I asked what the horse-drawn carriage equivalent was, but the damn' horse wouldn't tell me.
DB - for the use you describe, oil sticks would probably work better than oil pastels, which are hard enough to control at the best of times, but tend to break up if they get too warm.
Posted
Stunning painting Sylvia, love the colours. You might even inspire me to give them another go, although I am waiting for a set of watercolour pencils that someone from the art group I attend ordered on my behalf (sort of without consulting me first, although we had discussed them). Robert will very likely be able to tell me this - I have water soluble oil pastels (Neocolor II), could they safely be used for highlights over the top of these watercolour ones? And can watercolour pencils be used in conjunction with wax or oil based pencils? Thanks.
Posted
Interesting, though - while I rarely use them, I don't find they melt in my hands: I wonder, Sylvia - can you make pastry? (If so, I'm coming to tea...) Because they say that those of us with cold hands make better pastry - on the other hand, maybe the oil pastels I've got don't melt because they're so old they've dried out....
Posted
I really enjoy working with oil pastels - although I'm the only person I know who really likes using them!
They can be a bit of a blunt instrument, so you have to choose your subject carefully and avoid anything that requires really fine detail. They are quite buttery and won't blend easily unless the ambient temperature is warm - so I work with them in the summertime (or with the central heating turned up high)! Although I have used oil pastels on various types of paper, but they work best on thick pastelmat board, mount board or a sheet from an inexpensive canvas pad. Your finished work needs to be framed under glass because as others have said, they never truly dry out. 
Posted
I like oil pastels, and Dennis Rounding creates some great oil pastel paintings. I use Sennelier oil pastels from Jackson’s. (I’ve not used them for a while and now I’m thinking I’ll get them out again.) They also will need sealing, again Sennelier has a sealer, but I spray it outside as it has a strong smell, however it does the trick. I’ve framed them behind glass and they’re okay.
Edited
by Ellen Mooney
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