As A Kid At School,

sometimes we were given pastel colouring sticks, 

illustrations The Met like these, 

and shown how they should be used,

great fun for messy fingers!

in later life often I would look at artwork made using pastels, but how exactly is the colour stick called a pastel made? yesterday I came across this video that show me how they were made, so grab a mug of coffee if you have a little time to spare.