Clairefontaine 96007C Pastelmat block n°2 – 12 sheets of special dry pastel paper – 24x30 cm 360g – 4 colors – crystal paper dividers

Pastelmat is really in a category of it's own as a "paper". Nothing comes close in terms of providing the amount of "tooth" to catch pigment without feel abrasive on your hand as you work on it. Although people can assume it is purely for pastels given the name, and it is phenomenal for those (both chalk and oil pastels), it is also amazing with coloured pencils and will increase the vibrancy of your colours due to the amount of pigment it takes. It is sufficiently thick (360gsm) it can be regarded as card and detaches readily from the pad to which it is lightly glued on one edge. It is available in several sizes depending on your needs and can just be detached and used for a great result. The quality is phenomenal but is not cheap so is something you would generally reserve for final works. Do note that the surface is so different to drawing and multimedia papers it is vital to re-swatch your pastels/coloured pencils on this if you haven't used it before. I would also comment that the black pastelmat is actually more of a very dark grey than a true black.

Excellent value for this size pad and just the best for soft pastel artwork

As an amateur coloured pencil artist I'd seen pastelmat used alot, especially with pastel pencils so when I managed to purchase some pastel pencils this paper seemed a logical partner. I haven't used it in a full piece yet but have had a quick play and I think it'll take some practice to get used to but it certainly seems good quality. The sheets are relatively thick and the glassine paper between each sheet is great to help prevent smudges.

Nothing to say about the quality of the paper. Pastelmat are the best for pastel drawing. The pads arrived curved and bent . Some of the pads are creased. The seller need to improve the way delicate material like this gets shipped.

Expensive, but definitely worth it. I'm new to soft pastels, and lately I've been practising with them on normal pastel paper (Strathmore and Jacksonsart own). I kept seeing pastel artists recommend pastelmat everywhere, so after several paintings and knowing I'm going to keep using pastels, I bought this pad (it was at the time the cheapest of the CF pastelmats). I get it now. I get the hype. This paper is the best for soft pastels. I was actually really surprised that it was a little harder (not *hard* as such, just less maneuverable) to blend on this paper, but realized that THAT is actually a plus. On my other pastel papers it was almost too easy to blend, and I do like that, but the dust that came off the regular papers was insane. With this pastelmat there's a fraction of the dust because the paper can grip it, thus using your pastels more efficiently and creating less pastel dust everywhere in your room. I find it a little limiting on the Strathmore pastel paper to layer, so the ability to do so many times on this paper was so nice. It's essentially sandpaper with a medium grit (please don't use rough sandpaper, it'll eat your pastels), but I love that this pad comes with protective sheets for each leaf (except the first one, I cut that one up into smaller paper sizes to try them out first, hence the tiny art in the photos). The only gripe I have is my pad is slightly curved/warped. I left it under a heavy comic box and it straighten it a little, but for pricey paper I'd expect flat paper for professional use. As an artist who likes to sell artwork, I will definitely be purchasing this brand again. Hopefully with less warpage though.

Top quality and good value. This is my second pad.Love pastelmat…it’s all I use. This must be my third pad? It’s good value.

Excellent quality pastel paper/card. Pad has film between each card to protect from smudging when using soft pastels

This was my first ever purchase of pastelmat; I was a little overwhelmed with the feel of the surface! The texture is grainy which allows for many, many all important layers.… the results have been great! I use coloured pencil, I find it quite forgiving and the fact that you can get light over dark is amazing. I highly recommend this surface to any coloured pencil artist. I think that it is great value for money and love the excellent colour selection. The item came perfectly packaged. The pic I’ve added is a snow leopard (reference photo credit pixabay) Bonny Snowdon tutorial.

It is Clairefontaine so of course it is a great mat for pastel paintings.

Questa è in assoluto la migliore carta per pastelli! Il pastello aderisce immediatamente alla carta e il primo strato è poco sfumabile, se non lievemente con uno sfumino di carta, ma come si continua ad aggiungere colore le possibilità diventano infinite, si può sfumare sia con sfumini che con le dita, e se si usa una mano leggera si possono fare sovrapposizioni e correzioni praticamente all'infinito. È ideale sia per pastelli morbidi che per pastelli più duri, quelli solitamente di tipo rettangolare, che per le matite pastello e PanPastel, ma la si può usare anche con matite colorate, incluse quelle acquarellabili perché è molto spessa e si può usare l'acqua. A differenza della comune carta per pastelli si crea pochissima polvere mentre si disegna e non occorre usare un fissativo finale. Secondo me non esiste di meglio, una buona superficie fa tutta la differenza in un disegno, soddisfazione estrema!

Das beste Pastellpapier! Teuer, aber jeden Cent wert. Früher habe ich meine Pastellzeichnungen immer auf Tonpapier oder dickem Zeichenpapier angefertigt. Das ging auch, aber man muss es ehrlich sagen: Das Pastelmat Pastellpapier von Clairefontaine ist einfach die beste Wahl. Es zeichnet sich durch eine einzigartige, samtige Oberfläche aus, die ganz bewusst zwischen klassischen sandpapierartigen Pastellpapieren und glatteren Velours-Papieren angesiedelt ist. Diese fein strukturierte Oberfläche sorgt dafür, dass Pigmente, egal ob weiche Pastelle, Pastellstifte, PanPastel oder sogar harte Medien sicher und tief aufgenommen werden. Der sogenannte „tooth“ (dt. „Zahn“) des Papiers, also die Menge an Pigment, die es aufnehmen kann, ist um ein vielfaches höher als bei jedem anderen Papier das ich kenne. Besonders wenn man mit vielen übereinander gelagerten Schichten arbeitet, ist das ein unverzichtbares Qualitätsmerkmal. Ich persönlich stecke immer sehr viel Zeit und Mühe in meine Bilder und mache nur selten schnelle Skizzen. Für letztere nutze ich dann normales Zeichenpapier, da mir das teure Pastelmat dafür zu schade ist. Für ausgearbeitete Bilder nehme ich mittlerweile nur noch Pastelmat, am liebsten in den Farben Anthrazit, Blau oder Grün. Leider enthalten die gemischten Blöcke immer auch hellere Varianten, die ich viel seltener nutze. Ein Block nur mit dunklen Schattierungen wäre super!

Fun

Good for soft pastels, much less dust because of the special paper structure.