The chalk is the oldest medium of drawing. Its traces are found even in the prehistoric period where the drawing was done with color sticks colored with natural pigments. Nowadays-colored chalks are made from ground pigment, chalk and a binding gum. Similar to other traditional drawing media chalks are available in variety of colors. The softness and the hardness of chalk pastels depend on the proportion of pigment to gum.
The pastel chalk pencils are simply good for traditional fine arts, memory books and scrapbooks for they are smooth and bendable. They are wonderful for embellishments, accents, lettering, outlining, stripes, and shading, borders, and roughing and aging effects.
To give a spectacular effect to the painting one should use dark color paper with a rough surface. The pastel chalk pencil can be conveniently blended with a paper stump, kneaded eraser, tissue and finger. These pencils are acid free and usually encased in cedar wood.