Blending Colored Pencils with Gamsol

Hi Happy Scrappers!

Polly Liana here, with a fun tutorial about how to blend colored pencils with an odorless mineral spirit called “Gamsol.”  Along with digiscrapping, I also enjoy making cards with rubber stamps.  Although I enjoy coloring my own cards, I was never able to get the colored pencils to blend properly.  I love watercolor pencils but I couldn’t use them unless my image was produced with waterproof ink, otherwise the water would make it bleed.

Enter Gamsol and Prismacolor pencils.  Turns out, there are lots of neat tutorials out there about how to use this spirit to blend colored pencils smoothly and easily.  Intrigued?  Here’s what you need:

Paper medium (I use A4 size lux white cards from Paper Source):

Prismacolor pencils (I’ve found Crayola pencils don’t blend properly).  They’re expensive but I got mine for a great price from AC Moore during a sale:

Gamsol mineral spirits (mine is made by Gamlin):

Blending stumps in a variety of sizes:

I perused the Lilypad’s “doodles and illustrations” section and found many designs I liked for making cards.  Here are the three kits I chose:

First, I created a layout of the images in Photoshop and printed it on the card. (I used an image from CD Muckosky’s “Whimsy World” kit– SO fab!):

Next, I shade in part of the areas I want to color.  I’ve found it works best to start with a lighter shade and create a gradient with it, then add a darker shade in limited areas.

Then, dip the tip of your blending stump in the Gamsol and blend it as you would a watercolor pencil design.  The great thing is that since the Gamsol is not water soluble, it won’t smear your print!

Pair the card with a coordinating envelope and voila!  Personalized stationary.

I love experimenting with different blends and colors.  When you need to switch colors, simply “sharpen” the tip of your blending stump with an emory board and the color will rub away.

The one warning I have is that this gig gets addictive.  Especially if you, like me, are surrounded by deep snow and subzero temperatures.

Hope you’ll try this technique soon!  When you do, make sure you share your creations in our gallery so we can give you some love!

Have a terrific start to your weekend!