Clairefontaine 24 x 30 cm PastelMat Pastel Card Pad No1, 360 g, 12 Sheets, Assorted Colours

I only use Claire Fontaine pastel mat when painting with pastels. I have found no other paper that compares. Paper matters when you are painting professionally and as a hobby. When you don’t have the correct paper, it gets frustrating and your desire to further improve with that medium is gone. You never know when a masterpiece will be created so start off right. Claire Fontaine is the paper to use. Just wish larger sizes were offered in Amazon in Claire Fontaine

I bought Pastelmat a year ago that did not have this problem. When my paper arrived today it had a little crunchie in the corner of the pad from being shipped from the UK, not to bad so I thought the paper would be ok otherwise but I was shocked when I opened the shrink wrap on the pad. Every sheet had these little white spots embedded in the paper, more noticeable on the dark sheets. One of the anthracite sheets had a big scuff mark. One of the white sheets had a dark spot and black specks. This appears to be manufacturing defects, as the white spots will not come off, they are in the paper. One of the sheets had a wrinkled glassine sheet as if it had been opened before. I am including photos of all these sheets. I am in the US so this paper is very expensive and comes from the UK. I called Amazon with my complaint as it will be hard to draw on this paper with all the defects. Just want everyone know to be careful as my pad came with defects on every sheet. I am very very disappointed. UPDATE: I have contacted Clairfontaine directly and they stated there was a defective run that has been corrected at their manufacturing facility. Some of the defective batch had already been sent to distributors, thus difficult to track. They stand behind the quality of their product and sent me full replacements for my defective Pastelmat. I received absolutely perfect Pastelmat in just a few days! So just be aware that some of the 3rd party sellers may have defective batches in their inventory. Pastelmat is really unique and excellent for both colored pencils and pastels. I highly recommend this product!

Clairfontaine pastelmat was a little difficult to get used at first. but once I did, I found it to be superior material for pastel art work. It is a little difficult to blend pastel on pastelmat the way I normally did with Uart. It is better to use the pan pastel spreader than pipe foam insulation that I normally used on Uart. The pastel really sticks well to pastelmat and the colors seem bright and less prone to smudging. Pastelmat is velvety to the touch rather than like sandpaper. I am very pleased with the results and highly recommend it.

I know why professional artists use this paper, it is amazing. I wish it were not so expensive but it is worth it. My paintings come out so much better using it and it makes painting more fun. If you can splurge then try it but I found that using a harder pastel is better or you will go through your pastels too fast. The rough surface will just eat them up. Rembrants do ok or even the ones from Dick Blick do great. Diane Townsends will be gone by the time you finish your painting to reserve them for highlights. You can also do you first layer in Pan Pastel and that will save your other materials. ArtByLeClaireDesigns

This paper was so velvety smooth, I was surprised at how much pastel it actually held. As other reviewers have mentioned, the pad came with curled corners, so I have placed some heavy books on it to help straighten it. It is also true that it grabs the pastel in such a way that it doesn’t blend well, but it is great in holding multiple pastel layers.

I like the product but don’t get why it’s so expensive

A very good paper for my style of work. It is remarkably smooth for the amount of pastel it can hold. I can layer, blend, and rework my subjects and not worry too much about damaging the surface. Sometimes there are lines that look like a sort of grain across the paper, but as I usually cover the entire paper with pastel it is not noticeable in the end. My only wish is that Amazon used greater care when shipping fragile art supplies.

Pastelmat is my favorite paper. It allows for rich color development in both pastels and colored pencils. Color goes on quickly with fine details possible. BUT, the paper came damaged because it only had clear shrink wrap with the mailing label attached. The shrink wrap was torn and the corners were bent. If I didn't need the paper now I would have returned it. This can be trimmed down so it's not a total waste. I do recommend Pastelmat but it should be packaged with more protection.

Best Paper for Soft Pastel work, Amazing grain quality… must buy

衝撃の商品です！！！ 人物パステル画、2度目の挑戦でしたが 全く粉っぽくならず、どんどんパステルを吸い込み、色混ぜが楽しすぎて 仕上がりも感動でした！！！ 品質の良いものがもつ、感動を 味合わせていただきました✨️ 高価と思いましたが、購入して良かったですし、パステル画に挑戦される方には、是非オススメしたい逸品です！

Das beste Pastellpapier! Teuer, aber jeden Cent wert. Früher habe ich meine Pastellzeichnungen immer auf Tonpapier oder dickem Zeichenpapier angefertigt. Das ging auch, aber man muss es ehrlich sagen: Das Pastelmat Pastellpapier von Clairefontaine ist einfach die beste Wahl. Es zeichnet sich durch eine einzigartige, samtige Oberfläche aus, die ganz bewusst zwischen klassischen sandpapierartigen Pastellpapieren und glatteren Velours-Papieren angesiedelt ist. Diese fein strukturierte Oberfläche sorgt dafür, dass Pigmente, egal ob weiche Pastelle, Pastellstifte, PanPastel oder sogar harte Medien sicher und tief aufgenommen werden. Der sogenannte „tooth“ (dt. „Zahn“) des Papiers, also die Menge an Pigment, die es aufnehmen kann, ist um ein vielfaches höher als bei jedem anderen Papier das ich kenne. Besonders wenn man mit vielen übereinander gelagerten Schichten arbeitet, ist das ein unverzichtbares Qualitätsmerkmal. Ich persönlich stecke immer sehr viel Zeit und Mühe in meine Bilder und mache nur selten schnelle Skizzen. Für letztere nutze ich dann normales Zeichenpapier, da mir das teure Pastelmat dafür zu schade ist. Für ausgearbeitete Bilder nehme ich mittlerweile nur noch Pastelmat, am liebsten in den Farben Anthrazit, Blau oder Grün. Leider enthalten die gemischten Blöcke immer auch hellere Varianten, die ich viel seltener nutze. Ein Block nur mit dunklen Schattierungen wäre super!

Pastelmat is really in a category of it's own as a "paper". Nothing comes close in terms of providing the amount of "tooth" to catch pigment without feel abrasive on your hand as you work on it. Although people can assume it is purely for pastels given the name, and it is phenomenal for those (both chalk and oil pastels), it is also amazing with coloured pencils and will increase the vibrancy of your colours due to the amount of pigment it takes. It is sufficiently thick (360gsm) it can be regarded as card and detaches readily from the pad to which it is lightly glued on one edge. It is available in several sizes depending on your needs and can just be detached and used for a great result. The quality is phenomenal but is not cheap so is something you would generally reserve for final works. Do note that the surface is so different to drawing and multimedia papers it is vital to re-swatch your pastels/coloured pencils on this if you haven't used it before. I would also comment that the black pastelmat is actually more of a very dark grey than a true black.

Fun