Hi Meredith,
About the pastel flaking away, Ralph Mayer has an interesting paragraph in his book,
'The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques', where he states that if too much fixative is applied, the pastel will adhere rather to the fixative than to the support, it seems that in this case the fixative would actually pull the pastel from the paper.
I've also witnessed a real nightmare at a clients home (who was understandably ordering oils this time). A pastel that she'd ordered several years back had been framed with the glass directly on the surface (without a mat!!), and, you guessed it! With static, the pastel layer had clung to the glass. Still, when all the rules are respected, isn't it a beautiful technique?
Best wishes!
Gwenneth
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