Pastels

[Whittled Thumb]

I adopted a painting technique I read about with pastels chalks. I just scrape it off and dab it in water and paint it on. It's easy mixable when you need custom colors and blenders wonderfully. The only problem is , pastells never truly set permanently. What can I spray my carvings with to set the pastells? I don't want something glossy because I want it to look like a carving not a toy.

[Robson Valley]

Liquitex makes a matte finish acrylic Varnish. Not even satin gloss. Just remember, you're going to get one shot at this. The second brush stroke will start to lift the pastel. You have to make one sweeping pass. Oil pastels in an oil vehicle stick better but finishing varnishes are a pain to apply.