Coloring with Dorso Crayons

Dorso Nature Colors

Dorso Lively Colors

First of all, a Dorso Crayon is an oil pastel than can be used to color an entire sheet of parchment paper or just for filling in little parts like a flower petal using a blending or spreading medium. 

When you use the Dorso oils, which are basically a paint, you need to use something to thin it out so that it's spreadable and easy to work with called a blending or spreading medium.  Some of the most common blending mediums are: Pergamano’s Dorso oil, white spirit (in the UK), naptha (in europe), lighter fluid, Turpenoid, or an essential oil (which gives the project a lovely fragrance).

Spreading the oil pastels can be a little tricky sometimes, because the crayon can leave streaks across the paper, which you can see. That takes away from the finished product. Good spreading of the oil pastel comes from the friction of the actual spreading combined with the blending medium. Yes...there is some elbow grease involved in this technique :) When coloring a full sheet of parchment paper, make sure it is tacked down well to a scratch paper (to save your table from the blending medium and the oil pastel color). Use a cotton ball or a piece of paper towel with a little blending medium to spread the oil pastel. First work in large circles, then side to side then up and down. You will see a lot of the oil pastel come off onto your cotton ball/paper towel, but that is okay. You will still see the color on your parchment paper.  Here is a little video to help you visualize the Technique.

When working on smaller areas, you may want to spread just a tiny, tiny bit of spreading medium on the area using a cotton swab, or I use a blending stump also known as a tortillion that you can find at your local craft store. It's basically a piece of paper wound around itself making a point at the end. Once you do that, spread some of the oil pastel onto the blending stump and then spread that onto the area to be dorso’d. Using the stump is great because it's got that great tip on the end.  To clean your stump, just use a piece of sandpaper and rub the end until all the color is gone and you have a brand new blending stump!