Gamsol vs blending stump vs colorless blender pencil for blending color pencil work. Ive been using the Gamsol sparling with a 16 th inch flat brush the past week and im liking the effort to apply and the results. Using Strathmore sketch 60lb. and there is occasional bleeding thru but that is i think my heavy hand. I put a paper towel under sheet so not to ruin the next page. Any thoughts or knowledge to share greatly appreciated. tom
Sorry Tom I work with graphite & charcoal so I would be no help to you. I tried color pencils once & did not finish the project. Maybe you saw that duck.
Jim
Hi Tom @tomee43
For those who don’t know, Gamsol is just odorless mineral spirits. Typical use is for blending wax based colored pencils with the use of a blending stump or paint brush. It is not unusual for this to bleed thru your paper, depending on what paper type and weight you are using.
Personally, I typically do my colored pencil drawings on PastelMatt paper or 300# watercolor paper. Even if there is most likely not going to be bleeding of the mineral spirits thru these thicker papers, I prefer to use the colorless blender which is just like a regular waxed base pencil, but it has no pigment. The more layers of colored pencil that you have, the easier it is to blend. With this process, there is not going to be any bleeding thru the paper.
If you are using an “oil based” colored pencil, then I have used a solvent, but my preference is “Turpenoid Natural”. It is non-toxic and non-flammable. It can also be used as a brush cleaner and conditioner for any oil base products, like oil paint.
Hope this information is what you were looking for.
Terri Robichon
I do agree with Terri.
In addition: To blend the oil based Polychromos (Faber Castell), I either use tons of layers and/or Zest-it in-between. It allows you to put even more layers on top depending on the paper you work with.
Like Terri, I prefer PastelMat or water color paper for colored pencil drawings.
The softer but still oil based Derwent Lighfast pencils are easily blendable by themselves (layering).
Buddy
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This is a good question, and I am looking forward to more responses.
I mostly use polychromes and like to work on Multimedia paper. Strathmore also has their multimedia paper also comes in neutral colors that are nice to work on.
I also like to use colorline paper by Canson. They only come in large sheets and have two different weights 92lb and 184 lb.
I like to work on the 184 lb. paper better. It is nice for doing complementary color schemes and could possibly use the gamsol for blending but have never tried.
I like to use polychrome pencils and blend by layering. I am not a big fan of wax based colored pencils. I think Pastel Matt may be your best choice. It is out of my price range so have found others to work with.
I hope that my lack of knowledge in blending and paper uses is helpful.
Teri (with 1r)
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Thanks all for responding , I should have mentioned I use Prismacolor pencils. The gamsol was just an experiment, I think I am getting best results with the colorless blender.
I also do graphite but lately wanted to a little color . Also using Bridtol Vellum paper now and did one drawing of a corn stalk on watercolor paper. I hesitate to add any drawings to the forum , my source is off the Internet and I’m not sure of use. I also use the Botanical artist page to get colorful work. Matt did publish or mention something a while back about using reference photos, I’ll try to find that.
Anyway , thanks all for the response tom
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