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Blockx Soft Pastel - Ivory Black 742

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
21918-2742
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.

Ivory Black

Pigment code
PBk9
Type
charred animal bone
Chemical name
carbon + calcium phosphate
Chemical formula
C + Ca3(PO4)2 or C x CaPO4
Properties
Ivory Black is a cool, semi-transparent blue-black with a slight brownish undertone and average tinting strength. It mixes well with any color, and creates a range of dull greens when mixed with yellow. It has good properties for use in oil, can be slow to dry in oil form, and should never be used in underpainting or frescoing. Ivory Black is denser than Lamp Black.
Permanence
Ivory Black is very lightfast and has good permanence, though it is considered the least permanent of the major black pigments.
Toxicity
Ivory Black has no significant hazards.
History
Ivory Black is a carbon based black first named as Elephantium, and described in the 4th century BCE as produced by heating ivory scraps in clay pots to reduce the ivory or bone to charcoal. The deviation in names is because the more expensive varieties of this pigment were made by burning ivory, and the less expensive ones by burning animal bone. In the 19th century, the name Ivory Black was finally permitted to be applied to Carbon Black pigments made from bone. True Ivory Black is rare in modern times due to the protection of ivory, and the synthetic variety produced today was discovered in 1929. Bone Black is produced as an industrial pigment.
Description
Animal Black, Blue Black, Bone Black. Paris Black is an inferior grade of Ivory Black. Incorrectly labeled as Frankfort Black.

Lamp Black

Pigment code
PBk6
Type
inorganic
Chemical name
carbon
Chemical formula
C
Properties
Lamp black is a very opaque, heavily staining black pigment that does not have much covering power. It is typically the most opaque black in watercolor form. Though a very pure black, it tends to muddy slightly in mixtures, is one of the slowest drying pigments in oils, and should not be used under other colors.
Permanence
Lamp Black is very lightfast and absolutely permanent. It is used in all techniques in permanent painting.
Toxicity
Lamp Black is slightly toxic by skin contact and inhalation. It is a possible human carcinogen.
History
Lamp Black is a carbon based black traditionally produced by collecting soot (known as lampblack) from oil lamps. It is the black found in Egyptian murals and tomb decorations and was the most popular black for frescoing until the development of Mars Black.
Description
Carbon Black, Channel Black, Oil Black, Vegetable Black. Flame Black is an impure version of Lamp Black.

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