subject: How to Store Your Pastels Supplies [print this page] How to Store Your Pastels Supplies How to Store Your Pastels Supplies
After you have all of your supplies, you want to make sure that you store them to protect them from damage and to get the most use from all your materials. Some of the items come with their own storage containers and some you can purchase separately. Store your supplies in the following ways:
Your pastels: You can keep them in the boxes they come in for quite a while. Pastel sticks and pencils come in boxes that are designed specifically for the size and shape of the stick and often times have foam padding to keep the pastels from rolling around and breaking. If you have pastels in their original cardboard boxes and need to replace the wornout box or you want to have something nicer, almost every art store has nice pastel boxes for your materials. You can arrange the sticks by color (all the reds together) or by value (light colors together and separate from middle value colors or dark colors). The choice is up to you. They're going to get out of order anyway and you'll end up rearranging them according to your current project.
Your paper: For individual pieces of paper, keep it flat in a sturdy portfolio or something else that keeps the paper from getting creased, crumpled, or otherwise damaged. The homemade portfolio we describe earlier in this chapter can hold several pieces of paper until you have a chance to use them. You may even have two portfolios, one for clean paper and one for completed drawings.
Small items: For your viewfinder and sighting stick, blending stumps, spray fixative, tape, and all other small items, a small tool box works fine. You can find art boxes at the art supply store, but they cost twice what they're worth. Many times a small plastic tool box from the hardware store works fine.
Flat items: For your drawing board, pads of paper, and other flat items, a vinyl portfolio is good. It closes with a zipper to keep everything secure and is heavy-duty enough to hold these weighty items without falling apart or damaging the goods.
Cumbersome items: A shelf or a closet works to store your easel, apron, and other cumbersome items. You can put the portfolios, the art box, and everything else on the shelf or in the closet. Make sure this area is a conditioned area, meaning someplace that is basically room temperature and dry. Keep your spray fixative in an area where the temperature is between 40 and 90 degrees.
