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Blockx Soft Pastel - Mars Red 271

Soft Pastel

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$6.16

Blick Art Materials · recorded Oct 21, 2026, 5:07 AM UTC

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Product details
Blick SKU
21918-3271
About this product range

Blockx Soft Pastels are handmade in Belgium using pure pigments in the same tradition started by company founder and chemist Jacques Blockx in 1844. Four subsequent generations of Blockx family members have combined traditional methods with modern chemistry to create artist's colors that are pure, permanent, lightfast, and stable.

Colors are named in such a way as to make it easy for artists to choose the exact shades they need. For example, Apple Green's five shades are: Apple Green 641, Apple Green 642, Apple Green 643, Apple Green 644, and Apple Green 645.

If the color name ends in:

  • 1 — the pure color is upgraded with black
  • 2 — this is the pure color
  • 3 — the pure color is tinted with white
  • 4 — the pure color is tinted with more white
  • 5 — the pure color is tinted with much more white

These watersoluble pastels are soft and velvety in texture, possess a superb tinting strength, and will draw on any surface, although they're best-suited for pastel paper.

Individually wrapped pastel sticks are 2-1/2" L x 1/2" Dia (65 mm x 12 mm).

Pigment information

General reference notes about pigments can describe other media (such as oil). They do not verify this product’s exact formulation or behavior.

Red Iron Oxide

Pigment code
PR101
Type
earth, synthetic
Chemical name
iron oxides (synthetic), iron oxide, silica, alumina, lime, and magnesia or hydrated iron oxide
Chemical formula
Fe2O2 or Fe2O3 x H2O
Properties
Red iron oxide varies in hue and transparency, depending on hydration and slight impurities. Indian Red is a slightly duller, deep brick hue with a bluish undertone. It is very dense and opaque, with excellent tinting strength and covering power. It is dependable when mixing with all other permanent pigments and yields good flesh tints when mixed with Zinc White. It is the synthetic version of PR102, which is a pigment made from earth reds, or natural red iron oxides, and the names applied to PR101 and PR102 often overlap. The synthetic red iron oxides have mostly replaced natural red iron oxides and are brighter, stronger, finer, and more permanent. Indian Red is the highest grade bluish shade. Light Red, English Red, and Venetian Red are yellowish shades. Mars Violet is a dull and subdued bluish or purplish oxide.
Permanence
Red iron oxide is very lightfast with excellent permanence.
Toxicity
Red iron oxide has no significant hazards.
History
Natural red iron oxide comes from the mineral ore hematite, called bloodstone by the ancient Greeks from the word hema, meaning blood. It is one of the oldest pigments, has been used by every major civilization, and was an important mineral for medieval alchemists. It was not widely used in artists' materials until the 17th century and was not produced in large quantities until the 18th century.
Description
Indian Red, Colcothar, English Red, Light Red, Mars Red, Mars Violet, Morelle Salt, Pompeian Red, Indian Red, Red Oxide, Sinopia, Spanish Red, Terra Rosa, Tuscan Red, Venetian Red, Venice Red.

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