Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils

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This stunning collection of STABILO CarbOthello chalk-pastel pencils is available in a range of 60 beautiful color shades. They can be dry-blended or smudged with either the fingertips or a blending stump to create a variety of artistic effects. Dramatic results can be achieved when used on dark backgrounds and delicate papers, too. Areas or outlines can be lightened or highlighted using the white pencil. Partially aquarellable, the pigments can also be worked brush and water; the contours will remain visible. These premium chalk-pastels have high pigmentation with excellent light-fastness – and for superior results the finished artwork can be treated with a fixative.

​Colours Available: 60
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​Sets Available:
Open stock (Individually) In a tin 12, 24, 36, 48 & 60 
​Wooden box of 60

Costs: RRP £1.57 Each (Ave)

• ​60 colour shades in various ranges
• Charcoal-like feel
• Can be blended and smudged, partially aquarellable
• Highly pigmented colours
• Excellent light-fastness
• Can be used wet or dry
• 4.4 mm diameter lead
• Great results on dark backgrounds and specialist papers

Stabilo CarbOthello Pastels for fine detail

Stabilo CarbOthellos were originally called 'Coloured charcoal' and are a little softer than other pastel pencil brands (with the exception of the Caran d'Ache range), they blend really well and the colours are rich and highly pigmented offering a great choice of lights and darks. ​They evenly distribute the colour when used and are easy to blend with products such as sponges or the silicon and paper blenders.  The collection has some colours that other pastel pencil sets do not have and they are ideal to have along side other ranges. Being aquarellable, they mix well with water but the colours are not as vibrant when they are wet. Diluting the pigment will also dilute the lightfastness of them too, the more you dilute the weaker the lightfastness will become.  These pencils can be sharpened with a stabilo pencil sharpener, or with a craft knife allowing you to shape the tip to the length and point needed for those small areas as can be seen in the artwork below which was created by pastel artist John Graham.

Rich and vibrant pigments help to create brighter highlights

The flesh tint is a great colour which can be used for skin tones and highlights

Sharpening the pencil with a craft knife allows you to achieve very fine lines

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Why not try one of our mini soft pastels art tutorials

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The Colour Chart

Each pencil is marked with a star rating which can be found next to its number at the end of the pencil. The asterisk system is based on a blue wool scale of 1-8 with a sufficient light fastness achieved from 1 star onwards, this is where the STABILO system starts:
0* - Poor   (3)        1* Sufficient  (5)           2** Satisfactory  (4)         3*** Good   (17)        4**** Very good  (9)     5***** Best  (22)
The worst lightfast colours tend to be the blues and the pinks

COMING SOON.
​This article is due for an update.

History of the colour palette and design

Stabilo originally had 80 colours in their range but now there are only 60. I understand why companies remove colours from their collection especially if they feel like they are 'doubling up' on a pigment but I have to wonder why some of the colours were removed especially as there is nothing like them on the colour chart anymore, the brown umber colour (605) a prime example.

The discontinued colours

Photo credit: Claudia S.

Photo credit: Claudia S.

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New v's old
​The vintage pencil

John Graham is my partner and has been working with pastels for a few years now so has quite a wide range of brands including the CarbOthellos. In his collection, I found some vintage ones which he appears to have purchased as a batch alongside some discontinued colours and as I like to include the history as much as the latest information, I thought I would add this extra section in. I believe the vintage ones date back to the 1950's and thought I would share these pencils with you to allow you to compare old and new. I note that the earlier pencils were designed for a left handed users whilst todays' are right handed, this means the print on the barrel of the pencil is the right way up when holding in your working hand. There are very few pencil brands made this way (if any?) and if anyone has any information on why they were initially made this way, please do get in touch.
Any further information I find about the history of these pencils, will be added here.

For anyone who still has a collection of these vintage pencils, I came across a list showing the old names and 2 digit numbers of the 62 pencil colours available at that time:

10 Indian Red	11 Ice Blue	12 Pale Ultramarine	13 Ice Green	14 Naples Yellow	15 English Red	16 Light Emerald
17 Heliotrope	18 Yellow Orange	19 Purple	22 Prussian Blue	23 Olive Green	24 Lemon Yellow	25 Ice Green
28 Light Flesh Tint	29 Dark Flesh Tint	​ 30 Pale Vermillion	32 Ultramarine	33 Meadow Green	34 Canary Yellow	​35 Sepia
36 Emerald	37 Red Violet	38 Sanguine	39 Yellow Ochre	40 Vermillion	41 Cobalt Blue	43 Leaf Green
44 Yellow	45 Van Dyke Brown	46 Black 1, 2, 3	47 Dark Violet	48 Carmine Red	49 Medium Warm Grey	50 Crimson
51 Turquoise Blue	52 White	53 Turquoise Green	54 Orange	55 Violet	57 Azure Blue	58 Rose Madder
59 Bistre	60 Pompeian Red	63 Earth Green	65 Umber	70 Burnt Carmine	73 Dark Green	75 Burnt Sienna
83 Forest Green	88 Ochre	89 Dark Ochre	91 Pale Warm Grey	92 Light Warm Grey	93 Deep Warm Grey	​94 Pale Cold Grey
95 Light Cold Grey	96 Medium Cold Grey	97 Deep Cold Grey	98 Payne's Grey	-	-	Information credit: 2dpuppets on Wet Canvas

SAFETY WITH PASTELS

Pastels create dust which can be dangerous to health over a period of time. For protection, ensure you are in a well ventilated area when using Pastels. You may prefer to wear a face mask to avoid breathing in the dust and/or purchase an air purifier. If you have any breathing problems such as asthma, pastels may not be the medium for you, or you could opt to work with pastel pencils which creates far less dust.

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Are these pencils animal friendly?
​Stabilo states:  No direct animal-derived raw materials such as meat, tallow, fat, etc. are used during the research, development and manufacture of STABILO products. Although renewable plant-derived materials are predominantly used, unfortunately we cannot as yet guarantee that these are exclusively vegan raw materials.