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In hopes that pastel chalks will be painting a broad swath of color in your lives after Christmas (or any special occasion!), we offer these gift suggestions to be wrapped and waiting for you and your students! Today I will share Great Gifts for Chalk Artists from chalk pastels to paper to storage. Each of these suggestions I have added over years of growing my love of chalk pastels.
This post contains affiliate links to art supplies we use almost daily and love dearly. Please see our disclosure policy. We love to share our love of art!
First, of course, is chalk pastels…
Chalk Pastels
There are wonderful, low-cost sets available through most major online art supply stores. A favorite with us are the ALPHA COLOR sets at Dick Blick. (See The Chalk Pastels We Love) Not to sound like an advertisement for this brand is hard to do…Since we have been sharing chalk pastel art tutorials, we have always suggested starting with the
. A starter set is currently $6.40. We are the proud owner of the big (pictured above); but in our defense, we are a class of five students and two teachers who love to haul out our pastels when the artistic vibe reaches out to us!(Great American chalk pastel set, pictured above, in our You Can Be An Artist series).
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Later, if a student is more experienced and would like to try a different brand of pastel, I suggest perhaps the following brands:
, , .My absolute favorite chalk pastel set is by Terry Ludwig (pictured above). The first, and at that time, the most expensive purchase of a fine set of 48 pastels was my beloved
. Now, they live side by side together in my battered wooden pastel box, not separated from each other by price or selection, but by the color and hue.Chalk Pastel Art Paper
You can spend the money on pastel paper; I suggest that students go the copier paper route until they show that they are very interested in pastel art and then a real pastel paper is warranted.
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Try Canson first, it is available in tear-off sheets by the pack and usually is for sale at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. You can purchase other, finer grade papers through your online stores such as Ampersand, Art Spectrum and the velvety U-Art brands.
Chalk Pastel Storage
Three Drawer Storage Box
I discussed chalk pastel storage and cleaning in a previous post, referring to the three drawer pastel storage box, above. A similar box
is available via Amazon for much less than I originally paid. There are wooden storage boxes that range from very reasonable to quite an investment.Artist Box
I have a box that I adore; it was an investment for me at over $140.00 six years ago. It is a Heilman custom made pastel box. Above, is the box, pictured open. It has covers that fit over the sections of pastels. You can then close the box and it is like a wooden briefcase. Easy to transport to class or for plein air paintings.
This may be costly, but I consider it an investment since I am addicted to pastel art. I proudly carry it now and it will be used for the rest of my days!
Go online to the art supply stores and just look around. Buy single sticks of pastels. (after all, you can hold your breath and snap those sticks in two and have TWO sticks for the price of one!).
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Try out a small set of those intriguing Pan Pastels that are sold in little stackable plastic cups and have funny little soft tools to paint pastels with!
Art Gift Certificates
All artists, of course, welcome a gift certificate to a favorite art supply store like Dick Blick, Michael’s Arts and Crafts and
. We also offer gift certificates to our You ARE an Artist chalkpastel.com store!We are all for sharing our information and suggestions as to what to purchase for Christmas, but it is a fun-filled journey to find just the right pastel supplies that you and your students will enjoy. You could have a life-time “addition” like Nana’s to all pastels, all the time!
Just remember….with the tools you choose…You ARE an artist!
Be sure to check out all the other great gift ideas from my fellow iHomeschool Network bloggers! And at this wonderful list of Great Christmas Gift Guides.
What’s Under Your Christmas Tree?
Sophie Ploeg says
I am on the hunt for my forever pastel storage system and this post was really helpful!
Hodgepodgemom says
Hooray!! I’m so happy to hear that.