Saving Pastel dust?

[MurrayG]

Hi folks. I have heard of this but am not sure. Especially after a studio pastel painting I have plenty of dust on my shelf. I usually carefully remove it wash down etc etc.
But I read that is worth saving it. I mean I'm not super prolific but it must add up.
If I keep it in a bag, how can I use it. Maybe wet and mould into a "stick" to use in a nature grey?
Anyone tried that or how to do a DIY stick?
Thanks.

 

[CaliAnn]

I have heard of this - but I have no idea what you'd use as a binder with the dust. Maybe if you saved up enough of it, you could sprinkle it on your paper? When I want a very smooth finish for a pastel painting, I cover my surface with some pastel color, and work it into the paper - maybe use it like that? I would not have the patience to save the dust though. although I love pastel, I hardly use them anymore because of the dust

 

[MurrayG]

I did a little think on this. Im not sure but the binders from the stick may still work... But, I did a small test along the lines you hinted by using the dust for an underpainting. Not something I do a lot of, but the brownish green grey works Ok for some tonal areas of a background. Not the usual stronger red, orange or whatever undertones, but maybe useful.

 

[Donna T]

I saved dust in little bottles according to their color groups ... and then threw them away before I moved. There are a few YouTube videos on the subject - here's a basic one. Some people use a mortar and pestle to grind the dust and some use electric mixers. From what I saw, it looked like they didn't add anything other than water because there is still binder in the pastel dust. Good luck if you try this, Murray!