Review on Non Toxic Square Chalk by Karla Richter

later If you're just starting out with pastels and are trying to save money, forget it. They are NOT an economical alternative. Too small, too hard and too many bright colors. Not even remotely artistic quality as some reviews claim. I didn't expect them to be like this given the price, but too many reviews give them high marks for quality without mentioning the downsides. They are so small that they would be difficult to use under normal conditions. hand size. Seriously, they're 1 inch long (2.7 cm), a little longer than a quarter coin. They are about 1/4 inch thick, about the thickness of Nupastel but 1/3 as long and not nearly the same quality. They're not much better than sidewalk chalk - they're harder, but that's not exactly a plus for artistic pastels. I really freaked out when I saw them because the photos don't give an idea of the size. I bought these with the idea of using them for shading and toning in an encaustic collage but they are too complex. Also, I hardly ever use them - not much to capture AND color at the same time. There aren't many natural colors, many of them tend towards neon. My cheap old Sargent chalk pastels have the best artist color palette and are enough to hold on to. I wasn't expecting high quality, not for this price, but they are ridiculously small. Keep them for the kids and buy quality. Even if you have fewer colors you get better coverage and you can always mix them. Edited on 3/7/18. The more I use them, the more I hate them. The only thing they have is color variation, and with all the banging, bright colors, that's not a lot. They are much harder than any other pastel I have ever used, even harder than sidewalk chalk. These pastels weigh 3 grams each, which is five times less than the weight of a regular pastel. The entire package weighs the equivalent of 12 standard art pastels. Do yourself a big favor. If you're serious about being creative, buy a pack of Kohinoor extra soft pastels made in the Czech Republic. A pack of 12 is about $12 and a pack of 48 is about $40-$45, but the pastel colors are much better. In fact infinitely better. The Kohinoor brand is a lot cheaper than Sennelier or even Dick Blick but they are comparable in quality and last a lot longer than these cheap pieces. They're so cheaply made that any savings you can make is an illusion.