Clairefontaine - Ref 96008C - Pastelmat Pastel Card Pad No.2 (12 Sheets) - 360gsm Card - 30 x 40cm - Assorted Colours - Specially Formulated for Use with Pastels

I bought Pastelmat a year ago that did not have this problem. When my paper arrived today it had a little crunchie in the corner of the pad from being shipped from the UK, not to bad so I thought the paper would be ok otherwise but I was shocked when I opened the shrink wrap on the pad. Every sheet had these little white spots embedded in the paper, more noticeable on the dark sheets. One of the anthracite sheets had a big scuff mark. One of the white sheets had a dark spot and black specks. This appears to be manufacturing defects, as the white spots will not come off, they are in the paper. One of the sheets had a wrinkled glassine sheet as if it had been opened before. I am including photos of all these sheets. I am in the US so this paper is very expensive and comes from the UK. I called Amazon with my complaint as it will be hard to draw on this paper with all the defects. Just want everyone know to be careful as my pad came with defects on every sheet. I am very very disappointed. UPDATE: I have contacted Clairfontaine directly and they stated there was a defective run that has been corrected at their manufacturing facility. Some of the defective batch had already been sent to distributors, thus difficult to track. They stand behind the quality of their product and sent me full replacements for my defective Pastelmat. I received absolutely perfect Pastelmat in just a few days! So just be aware that some of the 3rd party sellers may have defective batches in their inventory. Pastelmat is really unique and excellent for both colored pencils and pastels. I highly recommend this product!

Love this paper! So easy to create pastel art on this paper!

Great for colored pencil drawings. Easy to blend and layer. I typically use this paper for pet portraits of animals with a smooth coat.

A very good paper for my style of work. It is remarkably smooth for the amount of pastel it can hold. I can layer, blend, and rework my subjects and not worry too much about damaging the surface. Sometimes there are lines that look like a sort of grain across the paper, but as I usually cover the entire paper with pastel it is not noticeable in the end. My only wish is that Amazon used greater care when shipping fragile art supplies.

The white Pastelmat is great, it takes watercolor for underpainting incredibly well -- it diffuses into the paper just like good cotton paper. And it performs like a sanded surface without the sand. (Apparently it has a cork surface to hold the pastel). But my pad came shrink wrapped -- good, except it was wrapped too tightly and it warped the pad. I taped a piece down and watercolored it, left it to dry several days, thought this would flatten the paper. It seemed to for a bit, then went back to the warped state! I guess I will buy from Blick next time.

I only use Claire Fontaine pastel mat when painting with pastels. I have found no other paper that compares. Paper matters when you are painting professionally and as a hobby. When you don’t have the correct paper, it gets frustrating and your desire to further improve with that medium is gone. You never know when a masterpiece will be created so start off right. Claire Fontaine is the paper to use. Just wish larger sizes were offered in Amazon in Claire Fontaine

I bought this paper as I've read you can get amazing results with it using colored pencil. I liked how it worked with CP; however I really became enamored with it while playing with pastels. I think it is better suited for pastel work. I love the tooth, it isn't too gritty has a fairly smooth feel to it and the hard back will make it easy to mat/frame. I'm probably not doing CP work on this support correctly, but I sure like the outcome with pastels. And the tooth won't eat up your CP as much as regular sanded paper. It's worth the price.

This paper is amazing for colored pencil! It takes many layers and allows you to get very vivid and saturated color. I especially love the dark blackish color, as I've never been able to find a black paper that would allow me to lay down enough color pencil to become opaque. This definitely allows me to achieve that contrast very well