Pastel on Velour

Dodger

Grumbler
Joined
Nov 4, 2000
Posts
24
Loc
Melbourne Australia
We have been given a pastel to frame that has been done on paper with a velour finish.(Not disimilar to a suede board, but not as dense a fibre)

The customer tells us that the pastel continues to fall off the velour even if it is not bumped or moved.( I assume more so than if it were done on pastel paper)

They have had them framed in the the past, and tell us that a piece of glass is placed carefully but directly onto the artwork itself, then the chosen matboard and the the final piece of glass before framing the package.

Has anyone framed a pastel done on this medium before?
Is this the "correct" way to do it?
What are the alternatives or preferred ways to go about it?????????

Thanks in advance

Dodger
 
All pastels are friable (that's a fancy "I know what I'm talkin' about here" word for flaky). In the past, using glass pressed against the pastel was acceptable, but we have moved on from there. Now the way to do it is to have a double mat's distance (just like any artwork) but do reverse bevels on the mats. This will give a place for the chalk to hide when it falls off. After many years, velour paper seems to be making a comeback here in the Art Materials World (at least in Hagerstown..) PS: spraying it with fixative doesn't help all that much and it changes the appearance of the artwork, so resist that temptation.
 
NEVER, NEVER, spray ANY pastel. The only person who should spray a pastel, is the artist.

I learned that lesson the very hard way, back in the early 1960s. I sprayed a very expensive and beautiful family portrait pastel. I had used Grumbacher spray fixative. The spray completely eradicated ALL of the light colors. The pastel was destroyed.

The company I worked for had to pay for a new pastel, and it was not cheap.

For some reason, Len Aaron elected not to fire me, so here I am today, still framing. He is way too old to get even with now, so I am stuck.

John
 
I've worked with pastel for nearly 25 years, experimenting on just about all the sufaces. Before mounting any of my work, I'll flick the bottom edge of the paper while holding it verticle. Only the excess pastel dust falls off, never the image, until I painted on Velour. The entire image fell off!!!
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So, unless the artist wants to spray it (Normally I'm not a sprayer myself) I'd caution the artist on its unstability & don't breath too hard around it!

Never put glass directly on the pastel, but provide a channel for those few particles to fall down with out getting on the mat.

My experience with velour made me run away-won't touch it anymore as an artist. Now, as a framer, I'd suggest the artist spray this one & find another paper for the future! There are other papers on the market that will give that soft look that velour gives without being unstable.

Sharon
 
I recently framed a pastel which had been done on Moorman Suede matboard - it was wonderfully rich and velvety and firmly attached to the substrate - not one itty bitty bit of pastel dust flaked off - even while I was fitting it. And it was obcious that the artist hadn't used any spray.

Course, Moorman probably costs a lot more than velour paper so I imagine most artists won't go for this.
 
Pastel pigment that comes off onto the glazing may
be bad, but far worse are the particles that move
from one part of the design to another. This happens when the design is executed on some papers, Japanese tissue is one. The owner must be
cautioned about this problem. There is no safe
solution, other than storing the pastel flat.
All of the cautions in this thread should be paid
attention to.


Hugh
 
I've done a few paintings on "velour" paper. One was a gift to my daughter and was done about five years ago. I framed them all with single or double mats and a "Pastel catch basin" (Mat spacer usually 8-ply pinwheeled about 1/8" to 3/16" larger than the mat opening.) between the mat and the art. She has moved 4 times and it is "slightly dusty on the bevels" (It could use a re-matting, but haven't gotten around to it! ;) ) She does not treat it gently when she moves, yet it is still in good condition. I do not use fixatives on the final layer. (I sometimes do during painting)

It could be that some velours are a problem. The ones I've used actually are "toothier" and seem to hold better than some of the Cansons. (of course the sanded papers are best! IMHO)

I wouldn't smash the glass on it, but, I did re-frame a pastel portrait done in the 1930's that had been done that way and, although there was a ghost image on the glass, the image was still stable.
 
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