Faber Castell Polychromos artists' colour pencils have particularly soft waterproof wax leads making them blendable. Their smoothness and resistance to smudging makes them a pleasure to use, and particularly good for working on Parchment Paper. Polychromos leads are not at all brittle and can be sharpened to a very fine point allowing fine details to be achieved as well as giving coverage to larger areas. The excellent covering power of Polychromos pencils means that they can be used on a wide variety of other materials such as paper, card, wood, or even fabrics. Faber Castell Polychomos are the finest oil-based colour pencils on the market Each pencil has a 3.8mm lead which is coloured with high-quality artists' pigments suspended in an oil-based binder. This lead is bound to its casing of Californian cedar-wood, which renders it exceptionally break-resistant. It is water-resistant, smudgeproof and has exceptional covering power, though it will also sharpen to a very fine point for detailed work.