How to Clean Pastels

Pastels are soft and easy to blend, but they're also chalk-like and extremely dusty. If your pastels are turning gray from the accumulated dust of various colors, it can become difficult to tell your yellows from your blues. Keeping your pastels organized by color in divided containers might keep them cleaner for longer, but cleaning your pastels, no matter how dirty, can be done quickly and cheaply with a simple technique using cornmeal and a plastic container.

Things You'll Need

• Cornmeal
• Plastic container (anything from a bucket to a plastic sandwich container with a lid)

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Fill the bucket or a smaller container with cornmeal, leaving enough room to add and cover your pastels as well as cover the container. If you're using a bucket, leave ample room for mixing the cornmeal and pastels to avoid spilling.

   • 2

     Add as many pastels as you would like to clean.

   • 3

     Secure the lid if you are using a small container with a lid.

   • 4

     Shake the container gently for 2 to 4 minutes or until the pastels are clean.

   • 5

     Remove the cleaned pastels.