Home Forums Explore Media Pastels Soft Pastel Talk Richardson handrolled v.s. handmade pastels

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  • #454867
    CrystalKempen
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        I have been looking for information on the new Richardson Handrolled pastels and I have not gotten too far.

        I am wondering if anyone knows the difference between the handrolled and handmade?

        So far this is what I have found:

        Handmade
        1. only 120 colors(?)
        2. half stick sets or single full sticks (about the size of Mount Visions)
        3. $3 for a full size stick

        Handrolled
        1. 500 colors
        2. Sticks are slightly smaller then the handmade half stick
        3. little over $2 for a full size stick

        I own a sampler set of the Handmade pastels and I found the darks were not very dark. Looking at the photos of the Handrolled pastels, I am seeing the same issue.

        Does anyone know if the handmade line is going away? I like the ones I have and the cheap large sticks are appealing but the new Handrolled look a lot more expensive.

        My humble Facebook studio page ->https://www.facebook.com/CrystalKempen/

        #607988

        Hi Crystal,

        I have a set of the hand made and a dark and light set of the hand rolled. Here’s what I’ve found about them: the hand made are harder and almost indistinguishable from a Rembrandt half stick. About the same size (tiny) so don’t be fooled from photos like I was. They are good quality and nice for the beginning and middle of your painting, if you tend to work from hard to soft. The color range is so-so, like you said there aren’t really good darks in this set, or very good lights. I got the dark and light set in the hand rolled version, and I like those very much. They are slightly larger but a lot fatter, so they are easier for me to work with. Those darks are VERY dark, I’ve found, and the colors are not very distinguishable from each other when you put them on paper, but they lay down really well. They all look black so you have to be careful. The lights are nice too, and they are better for their range of color, and they are great for highlights and blending. I’ve found that the Richeson Hand Rolled are very nice, they have a particular quality of being hard to the touch and they don’t melt away and crumble the way the Schminckes or Senneliers do, but they lay down nice solid colors. I like them a lot. They are similar in texture and performance to Unisons. The hand made sticks I can live without. Jack Richeson offers sets of them both along with some hard pastels too, for around $50 to $60 if you want to try them all. I have one of those too, and they have a nice big chunk of white and black included that are similar in shape to the Diane Townsend Terrages. I use that white one all the time. That’s my two cents!

        #607975
        JPQ
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            i dont found chart for handmade ones. i want know more about these products.

            #607985

            What is the real difference between hand made and hand rolled. Are all the pastel sticks are hand made vs machine made? Semantics?

            #607989

            What is the real difference between hand made and hand rolled. Are all the pastel sticks are hand made vs machine made? Semantics?

            There is a video I saw where they actually do hand roll the one and the other is extruded from a machine, then hand cut. They are distinct from each other in look and feel and performance too.

            #607990

            i dont found chart for handmade ones. i want know more about these products.

            Visit their website, richesonart.com and go to “products” then “color charts” and select “pastels”. That will give you the hand made color chart. Choose “hand rolled” from products and click on “color chart” to get that one.

            #607977
            water girl
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                I have both the Richeson handmade and soft pastels. The thinner soft pastels are close to Rembrandts, I’d say. The handmade are a bit like Unison.

                [FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Karen, IAPS/MC, PSA WC Moderator-Pastels

                web site , Getting started in soft pastels., What you need to know, Critique Guide Lines

                #607987
                PeggyB
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                    It is my understanding that when the Unison company decided to market their brand themselves instead of using the Richeson company to do that, Richeson decided to create a very similar product, but have them made in China where they already were making the smaller, harder hand cut, and square stick varieties. Unison company continues to be located in Northumberland, GB and makes their product there. It would be interesting to compare the two dark sets. I have gone through several of the Unison extra darks many times. Each hue is distinctly clear as to what it is when placed side by side; none of them look “black” which is fortunate as I don’t use black or white in landscapes because they don’t look “true” to nature.

                    Peggy Braeutigam, IAPS/MC
                    www.peggybraeutigam.com

                    #607976
                    JPQ
                    Default

                        Visit their website, richesonart.com and go to “products” then “color charts” and select “pastels”. That will give you the hand made color chart. Choose “hand rolled” from products and click on “color chart” to get that one.

                        i found some charts but not hand made chart at least yet expect if is another than this hand rolled chart. their other pastel chart i mean.

                        #607991

                        Here is the Jack Richeson handmade pastel chart

                        #607974
                        KJSCL
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                            Richeson introduced their new 500 color handrolled half stick pastels at IAPS 2017 as they no longer are the distributor for Unisons. I’m pretty sure their old lines will be going away, but you’d have to ask them for a definitive answer

                            The handrolled pastels only come in half sticks which, for me, is a more useful size. The line is based on a value spectrum with each color ranging from light, mid light, mid value, mid dark and dark. Their dark pastels are quite dark.

                            They feel like and perform similar to Unisons. They are heavily pigmented and according to their information are non toxic. Dakota pastels shows each color on their individual sticks page.

                            This is my basic still life set of 40 Richesons half sticks.

                            Kathy
                            My Website

                            #607978
                            franglais
                            Default

                                I was looking for a comparison of the handmade vs handrolled Richesons, and google brought me to this thread. But, having read through it, unless I have misunderstood, Karen and Richard seem to contradict each other. Richard says the handmade are similar to Rembrandts. Donna says the handmade are similar to Unisons. From my limited experience, the Unisons seem softer than Rembrandts. So, which ones are the SOFTER? The handmade or the handrolled?? I have a set of handmade and like them. But, perhaps the handrolled are softer??? The handrolled are a bit more expensive… but either is a good value. Help!!?? Thanks in advance!
                                Mike

                                #607979
                                franglais
                                Default

                                    So, which ones are the SOFTER? The handmade or the handrolled?? I have a set of handmade and like them. But, perhaps the handrolled are softer???”

                                    Well, I did a bit more searching tonight and wound up on an art supply site I had never seen, RexArt in Miami, Florida. They have some great prices on Richesons. But as I was going through the small sets of Hand Rolled…. I clicked on a photo to enlarge the colors… and I could see “Hand Made” printed on the wrappers. So, perhaps the Hand Made and Hand Rolled are one and the same?? :)

                                    They have some sets of darks, but when looking over their darkest set, there seemed to be very few dark darks. It’s confusing that they call some of them Hand Made… and others Hand Rolled. It would seem that an art supply company could be a bit more “creative.” 🤣 :lol:

                                    Best wishes and Merry Christmas to all!

                                    Mike

                                    #607992

                                    I know it really is confusing! If you look at the color chart put out by Jack Richeson company, the ones commonly referred to as “hand rolled” are called “hand made” and it says so right on the label. However Dakota refers to these as Richeson HR (Hand Rolled) and lots of other places on the web do the same. What’s worse is the photos shown in the websites look almost indistinguishable from one another. I made this very same mistake when I ordered some long ago, thinking I was getting the fatter “hand rolled” version for a better price, what I wound up with was the half stick set of medium soft, which is commonly referred to as “Hand Made” on web searches. You really have to be familiar with both sets and the subtle differences in the photos, and the color charts to be sure.

                                    The stubbier one in the comparison photo on their color chart which is referred to as “Hand Made” is the one that is closest to a Unison in softness and performance. The other skinnier one is a half stick medium soft, which is very much like a Rembrandt. I also found this example of one of the Richeson variety sets, which has both of them next to each other along with some half size hard pastels for comparison. You can see the difference, but when you view these as sets without comparing them, it can be hard to tell what you are buying. If you think you are getting a really good deal on the hand rolled (fatter, softer) version, you will probably wind up with the smaller, harder version. Just be careful, that’s all I can say!

                                    #607999
                                    Tracy2000
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                                        I agree – VERY confusing. I seem to be a fairly frequent visitor to the Dakota warehouse (about every 3-4 weeks – what better place to SEE everything in person before making a decision). They have a TON of the Richeson sets, plus open stock. The ones that Dakota carries (whatever they call them) are the Unison-like ones. I actually prefer the Richeson texture a little bit over Unison. However, I think some of the Richeson colors are not very life-like. I scored a set of 80 (!) of the halfstick (hand rolled?) ones on Amazon (that are the same as what Dakota has) some months back. They were dirt cheap and I’ve not been able to get a similar price since. I like their earth tones and grays the best – about half the greens to me seem like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book ;-)

                                        I am still kicking myself for not buying the Brenda Boylan Northwest set of 80 when I first found it on Amazon. The price was so low I figured they were some sort of student line of pastels. By the time I figured it out (couple days), the bargain-priced sets were sold out. I had an interesting chat with some of the folks at Dakota shortly after because they were aware that someone was “dumping” Richeson pastels on Amazon at hugely discounted prices as well – what I got was the real deal, but how THAT person got them to sell so cheap…well….that’s the question I guess.

                                        ~Tracy
                                        "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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