This technique will help you to achieve lovely blended results in your rubber stamping projects without the need of lots of expensive materials or equipment. Blending pencil color is a great way to achieve graduated results or subtle shifts in color that is normally difficult with colored pencils. Mineral spirits are used to break down the color and a blending stump is used to distribute the color over the image. This technique is almost endlessly adaptable and can be used to give a professional finish to many rubber stamping projects.

The best types of rubber stamps to use with this technique are ones with plenty of space for adding color. Images that are too intricate or detailed may be fiddly to work with. Once an image has been stamped using a permanent ink (inks that do not smudge or run when wet are ideal for this technique), a few key supplies are all that is required to create lovely blended images.

Types of Pencils

The colored pencils that work best with this technique are artist quality pencils. These are good quality colored pencils that have a high proportion of pigment which is held together in a binding agent. The mineral spirits break down the binding agent to release the pigments. I use Prisma Color pencils, although other WAXED BASED artist quality pencils could work equally well.

Different colors give different results, so it is a good idea to try some sample pieces first to see how the end result looks.

Paper or Cardstock

This technique will work on a variety of different papers and cardstock. Papers with a smooth surface work best. As the technique involves rubbing the surface, papers such as watercolor paper may roughen as they are rubbed. Try different types and see what works best for you (in this example I used normal photocopy paper).

Mineral Spirits

Mineral spirits are used to break down the binding agent and to blend the pencil color. Odorless mineral spirits are ideal for this because, as the name suggests, they do not have the strong smell that is normally associated with mineral spirits. Do remember, however, that even odorless mineral spirits emit fumes and therefore this technique should be worked in a well ventilated area.

Alternatives to Mineral Spirits

The Gamsol brand of odorless mineral spirits is popular with artists, however other brands are also fine to use. In addition to odorless mineral spirits, normal mineral spirits can also be used. The odor does evaporate after a while. Some people report using baby oil with this technique. I have not tried this, but I believe that good results may be achieved this way too.

Blending Stump

A blending pencil stump or tortillion is typically used by artists to blend and smudge charcoal, pastels and pencils. Blending stumps are tightly rolled pieces of paper that look similar to a pencil. These can also be purchased from us or craft shops. Cotton buds also work well, and cotton buds with pointed tips give a high degree of control.

How to use:

Rubber stamp your image - preferably
with a permanent ink quality ink pad.  
Stazon or Archival Black Ink is a great ink pad to
use.

Using your Prismacolor Pencil or colored pencil,
outline your image.  Use a little pressure so that color
is dark.  

Is it necessary to use Prismacolor Pencils?  The
answer is no but Prismacolor pencils are heavily
pigmented therefore the colors are much bolder and
vibrant.  Prisma is a brand of colored pencils.  They
are of softer consistency, therefore, easier to blend.  
BUT Prisma brand pencils are substantially more
expensive than other colored pencils.

You can still achieve the same vibrancy with other
color pencils but you may need to apply a darker
layer when coloring to achieve the same bold colors.

Using circular strokes extend your coloring strokes
inwards from the original outline you had created.  It's
not necessary for the coloring to be perfect in
appearance because you will be blending the colors
with Gamsol and the blending stumps.

The beauty of using mineral spirits (Gamsol) and the
blendiing stumps/tortillion, you don't need to start off
your coloring in even strokes and you don't have to
worry about how much pressure you apply when
coloring.

If you read the tutorial that I asked that you look at
first, the  traditional coloring, shading, and highlighting
techniques that were discussed in that tutorial are
simplified using Gamsol and blending stumps.

Dip the blending stump into the Gamsol.  

When coloring a large area, dip a larger size
tortillion into the mineral spirits.  I used a larger
tortillion as opposed to a smaller blender stump
because of the larger area of the image that
needed to be colored

It's advised that you pour the Gamsol in a plastic
or glass jar and insert a sponge inside of the jar.  
The sponge cleans the blending stumps in
between coloring.  Sometimes a little bit of color
remain on the stumps which can contaminate the
image with other colors.  If this occurs, just rub
the blending stump on to a piece of scratch
paper to remove the color off the stump

In a circular motion, pull color from the colored
area of your image and blend the color inwards
toward your intended highlighted area or center.  
Dip your tortillion or blending stump into the
mineral spirit as needed to continue blending the
colors.  

If you need more color, with your color pencil,
color the edge or outline like you did in the
previous steps and pull color inwards in a circular
motion with your blender stump as needed.

Continue these steps until you are satisfied with
the colored image.  I will not cover shading and
highlighting concepts in this tutorial.  Click on the
link above - that tutorial explains the steps
needed to understand highlighting and shading.

Use a smaller harder blending stump (as
opposed to the tortillion) and color in areas that
are detailed using the same technique described
above.

When completed, your highlight should
be in the center or where intended.  In
this case, I chose the center near the
flower to be my highlighted area.  As
you can see, it is the lightest area.

Color the outline of the flowers
and blend the colored areas
inwards.  I used a smaller
blending stump instead of a
tortillion to blend the colors.

You may use two shades of one
color to color an image.   I will
demonstrate this with the image to
the left.  It is an image of a vase
filled with water.

I first colored the outline of the
vase and water with a grayish
toned blue

Using a brighter colored blue to color
the water, I outlined the area intended
to be the water and using the same
circular motion described earlier, I
colored beyond the outlined areas.

Using the blending stump and Gamsol,
I blended the colors together and
made the center as the highlight point.

I then blended  the rest of the vase
and finished off the flowers.  As you
can see, the top of the vase has a
lighter color compared to the "water"
part of the image.  By using two
different shades of the same color, you
can blend the two colors together to
achieve a cohesive appearance to the
image.

These are the finished images using
Gamsol/Mineral Spirits and Blending
Stumps/Tortillion.

Design your card as desired.  Don't
be afraid to blend two or even three
shades of the same color together to
achieve the end results you desire.  
Do a little bit of experimenting. . .you
may be surprised with your results!!

To buy some Prisma Premier Pencils click here...