cretacolor silverpoint pencil

This traditional Cretacolor Silverpoint enables drawing on special papers, prepared surfaces, and working very fine lines into chalk or pastel drawings.

Before the discovery of graphite in the 16th Century, most very fine drawing was made using a stick of silver, called a Silverpoint. It leaves a line of silver particles on the drawing surface, which doesn’t smudge and creates a very even line, ideal for cross-hatching techniques. Due to graphite migrating through layers of oilpaint, its use for preliminary drawings was continued even after graphite became available.

One of the beautifully unique qualities of our Cretacolor Silverpoint is that silver tarnishes, and the tone of a silverpoint drawing gradually changes from a silver-grey to a warm brassy tone. We can see this effect most strongly on the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, who often used a silverpoint.

Silverpoint keeps an even line width, producing a pale grey image that deepens & warms as it ages. You can get good results on some, mostly hard papers such as Stella, on gessoed surfaces, and for strongest results use Golden Silverpoint Ground, which not only makes any grease-free surface perfect for the application of silverpoint, but makes it receptive to all metals – gold, stainless steel and copper.

The Silverpoint is also useful for removing fine layers of pastel with precision, without damaging the paper.

ABOUT CRETACOLOR
Cretacolor is a leading dry media manufacturer based in Austria where all its products have been manufactured for decades.
Cretacolor’s products are internationally recognised as being of very high quality, with high colour intensity, rich colour laydown and superior lightfastness.