Naturlig orange farve knuses i morter, så pigmentet kan bruges til fremstilling af pastelkridt

Pastel chalk made from natural earth tones and iron oxides

We make pastel chalk by hand with chalk from local quarries non-toxic pigments from the areas of the world where the most beautiful shades occur.

At the workshop in Højerup, we mix and knead the chalk mass, then hand-roll each chalk dry and cut before packing it in the box.

We mix and adjust each individual color and strive to create color combinations that are close to nature and the Nordic light.

For us, the colors are of crucial importance, not only the single color but also the combinatorics and mutual contrasts of the colors: Subdued dark natural earth tones set against light or more colorful colors, cold-warm, light-dark, and complementary contrasts.

A color only distinguish itself when it is viewed against and stands in contrast to other colors, therefore both color strength, interaction, harmony, shape, and size are factors we have decided in our development work.

We mix the binders from natural materials, and neither our pastel chalks nor our fixative contain plastic. We do not add preservatives, titanium dioxide, or other substances that may have endocrine-disrupting or carcinogenic effects. 

Pigments

We primarily use earth tones and iron oxides for our pastel chalk. Most we buy ready-made, but some pigments we clean, decant, and tear ourselves.

Natural pigments are found in many different places in the world, but there are not many who trade them, as synthetic pigments are gradually dominating the market.

We are fortunate to have a close collaboration with some small dye mills that still process, burn and tear soil dye pigments themselves.

The temperature is crucial for the color and glow of the pigment. When burning at 700-800 degrees, for instance, yellow ocher turns to red and if the same pigment is burned at higher temperatures, the color becomes cool and to a cool brown-violet like caput mortuum.

Of course, there are also differences in the earth colors compared to where the pigment is dug up. The brown umbra from Italy is relatively light compared to the almost black umbra from Cyprus. This is one of the reasons why we use the fine Danish leaf shell ochre.

Ochre from Løvskal

The beautiful Danish earth color ochre comes from Løvskal, a small town between Viborg and Randers. Here it was until approx. 1960 a small ochre factory that previously supplied our paint factories with ochre. Today, it is almost unthinkable that there has ever been a factory, and the scenic area looks completely untouched with trees, shrubs, and lakes. Nature always finds out to restore itself, but if you dig a little into the ground, you can still find the beautiful løvskal-ochre

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