Clairefontaine - Ref 96016C - Pastelmat Pastel Card Pad No.1 (12 Sheets) - 360gsm Card - 18 x 24cm - Assorted Colours - Specially Formulated For Use With Pastels

I've been using pastelmat for all my drawings. It's the best paper for pastels. It holds many layers and is very easy to work with.

This paper is held in high esteem by many pastel artists, so I felt obliged to shell out and buy some to see what all the fuss was about!Firstly, the paper is thick and heavy. A really nice weight to work with, giving confidence as you make your strike on the page.The surface itself has a very light sanded texture, and this accepts the pastel very well. It seems to allow layer after layer with no problem, allowing colours to look fresh and bright on top of others, while blending, though more of an effort than on some papers, is controlled and effective.The colours in this set (#1) are very nice. Not too bright or vivid, allowing a great natural tone as a starting point for your work.Be mindful that this is single sided paper, so there’s no chance for a second attempt on the other side of the sheet!So yes, it’s expensive, and I won’t be using it for practice or sketching, but I will be putting this to good use for my more serious efforts. I’d recommend you try some.

Best for pastels. Wont use any other now

Haven’t used this yet. Arrived a little bent from transit, but have put it under a heavy book to re-flatten. Seems good quality paper. Not sure about the colours - but time will tell upon use.

Good quality as expected. Just bought it to try as new to polychromo pencils. Uses up a lot of the pencil as it’s like very fine sandpaper.

Having just received a delivery of my first ever pastel pencils I initially tried them on multi media paper and struggled to get the pastel to stick to it, I was limited to layering.So whilst I initially thought that Pastelmat was expensive I ordered some to try.And WOW absolutely blown away by it. The Pastelmat holds the pastel and you get much less dust than multi media paper.You can lay layer upon layer of pastel down and the pastels just seem to stick to the paper.This was only my second ever pastel drawing, but I think I am totally sold on the medium and I am now ordering more of this product.You have to try it if you draw with pastels.

My first time trying out pastel pencils, preferred medium is watercolour. I like this mat. Immediately, the mat starts grabbing anything that will stick to it. Especially fluff! Keep your work area very clean. The bits are hard to get off once gripped onto the surface.I wanted the colour in the middle of the pad, of course. I pulled that page out but the top layers fell off. So I put what I was not using into a plastic pouch wallet type thing. This keeps the fluff bunnies off the mat too. The boards are a good thickness and quality. I did notice a couple of very small blemishes, like tiny white bubbles that had popped and dried on each sheet. I don’t think that anyone but the artist would notice them. They are so small they get lost inside the work. Light pressure and lots of layers seem to be giving me very good results. I have no other experience with papers or mats so cant say anything on how it compares with other grounds.

I was really disappointed with this paper, was expecting it to be really good, the paper is very dull, drawings don’t look vibrant