Le cake is a colored stick used in drawing and painting. It is composed of pigments, a filler and a binder. A distinction is made between dry pastels (soft or hard) and fatty pastels (oil or wax).

The pastellist can use his sticks in different ways:

• with song for precise features;
• with edge for working surfaces;
• crushed to spread the powder on the backing and produce an area of ​​fuzzy color.

Controlled pressure and these three techniques allow for a great wealth of lines and textures, but the true strength of pastel is certainly the purity and vibrancy of its colors.
The pastellist can use both pure colors (simple application of the sticks), the mixing of colors by layering and fusion (the pastellist spreads one color on the other) and the optical mixing (the pastellist superimposes lines of color).
The fragility of the pastel implies a particular conservation technique because an unprotected pastel degrades with the slightest manipulation. The best protection remains the frame under glass. It is also customary to fix the works. Storage is done flat, painted side against a sheet of glassine paper.

Source: Extract from articles Wikipedia.

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