Rembrandt Soft Pastel Set General Selection Starter Box: The Essential Professional Foundation
The Rembrandt Soft Pastel General Selection Starter Box is a meticulously curated introductory set featuring fifteen full-length sticks, designed to provide a balanced primary and secondary palette for the aspiring professional. Skilfully crafted in the Netherlands, these pastels are world-renowned for their velvety application and uncompromising quality. By utilizing the purest kaolin clay and high concentrations of premium pigments, this starter box offers the fundamental color spectrum required to explore landscapes, portraiture, and still-life compositions with industrial-leading lightfastness.
Key Features and Artistic Benefits
- Comprehensive Tonal Foundation: A balanced selection of 15 whole pastels covering the full spectrum, including essential primaries, earth tones, and neutrals, providing a complete "kit" for color mixing and layering.
- High Pigment Concentration: Each stick is loaded with premium-quality pigments, ensuring excellent color transfer and immediate vibrancy that allows for both bold strokes and delicate glazing.
- Superior Kaolin Base: Formulated with the finest kaolin clay to provide the signature Rembrandt buttery consistency—perfect for seamless blending without the interference of grit or air pockets.
- Archival Lightfastness: Engineered to the highest standards, ensuring that your initial works remain stable and resistant to fading, maintaining their professional brilliance for decades.
- Full-Length Versatility: The whole stick format is ideal for broad side-strokes to cover large areas of the substrate, while the ends can be used for more detailed, linear work.
Included Color Selection
- General Selection (15 Whole Pastels): 100.5 (White), 201.5, 205.8, 227.5, 236.5, 372.5, 409.5, 411.5, 506.5, 548.5, 570.7, 620.7, 627.5, 633.5, 700.5 (Black).
Application and Usage Guidelines
- Color Theory Exploration: Use this set to practice color mixing directly on the paper; the high pigment purity allows you to layer warm and cool tones to create complex secondary and tertiary hues.
- Layering Techniques: Start with the harder earth tones or mid-tones as a base, then apply the lighter tints or the intense white (100.5) as final highlights to create three-dimensional depth.
- Substrate Selection: To maximize the pigment load of full sticks, use high-quality pastel papers (Ingres) or sanded supports that can hold multiple layers of soft pigment.
- Health and Safety: These pastels are strictly free of lead, cadmium, and cobalt-based pigments, making them a safer choice for artists working in enclosed studio spaces.
Technical Specifications
- Product Identification: Rembrandt Soft Pastel General Selection Starter Box
- Quantity and Format: 15 Whole (Full-Length) Pastels
- Base Chemistry: Pure Kaolin Clay and High-Concentration Premium Pigments
- Manufacturing Origin: The Netherlands
- Finish: Extra-Fine Matte Velvet
- Lightfastness Rating: Highest degree (archival)
- Cleanup Requirements: Dry removal from surfaces; soap and water for skin
