Schmincke Finest Extra-Soft Pastels contain only the purest medium-fine ground artists’ pigments in the highest possible concentration with just enough binding agent added to allow a stick to be formed. Extruders squeeze the pre-kneaded pigment-and-binder dough into long rolls, which are then detached by hand and cut with a wire. The damp sticks then have to dry for around eight days. Because they are so soft they then must be labelled and packed by hand. Having so much of the process done by hand is costly and time consuming, but it is the only way to get the soft, smooth consistency of pastel that Schmincke are famous for.
The complete range of Schmincke Soft Pastels includes 400 colours divided into 75 colours with 5 tints each. This balanced range is supplemented by a 10-step neutral grey series, 5 dark shades, gold, silver, 2 black shades, white and 5 special pearlescent shades for specific effects. Each pastel is wrapped in an information sheet that denotes its colour name, number and graduation of tint: B – the black graduation D – the pure colour H – the darkest white graduation M – the medium white graduation O – the lightest white graduation