Abstract: A container in which artists' pastels can be safely stored and transported and discoloring pastel dust can be conveniently removed from the pastels. The container holds a stack of trays, each made from a frame that surrounds and supports an open mesh on which pastels can be placed. The trays are supported above a freely flowing granular abrasive in the bottom of the container which can scour the pastel dust from the surfaces of the pastels. The top tray is just beneath the top of the container so that, when the container is inverted, the trays are held in place by the stack and the pastels are protected against breakage by the abrasive, which surrounds and scours the pastels, and by the previously overlying top of the container or by the mesh of the previously overlying tray.