Gamasol Blending tutorial

In the store where I work one of the most frequent questions is about pencils & colouring mediums, when I found this tutorial I just had to add it here for reference. This is not my work, I have fully credited the writer of the tutorial.
its worth Noting that here in the UK the odourless mineral spirits may not be called gamasol, I know it is available from Winsor Newton as Odourless mineral spirits & the paper stumps are sometimes referred to as Totillions.

Gamsol Magic

by Cecilia Ross

Use colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits, and blending stumps to color a masterpiece.

Supplies

• Prismacolor™ Pencils or other wax-based colored pencils


• Blending stumps in various sizes


• Gamsol or other artist-grade odorless mineral spirits


• Emery board or sanding block to sharpen stumps


• Soft eraser


• Metal pencil sharpener


• Neutral colored cardstock


• Outline stamp


• Dye based ink


To purchase Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol or blending stumps, check out the web store at Inky Antics. Be sure and tell them Splitcoast sent you!
Check the bottom of the tutorial for lots of great technique and supply tips added since the tutorial was initially published.

Step-by-Step

1. Step 1

   Ink stamp with dye based ink and stamp image on neutral cardstock.
   

   

2. Step 2

   Start coloring the image background (usually sky and ground) with a pencil, applying a light amount of color close to the edge of your image. I used Copenhagen Blue.
   

   

3. Step 3

   Dampen the tip of your stump with Gamsol.
   
   Blend the color with the side of your stump, pulling the color towards the outer edges in a small circular motion.
   
   HINT: This works best if you have a small plastic bottle with a dauber lid (like a bingo marker) or a small piece of felt soaked in Gamsol. Press the stump against the felt or the dauber top to dampen.
   
   
   

   

4. Step 4

   Continue coloring and blending the inside images as in Steps 3 and 4.
   
   Always start with the lighter colors first like the skin, goose and puddle.
   

   

5. Step 5

   Once all of the base colors are in, go back and add some shading or highlights.
   
   To shade, add darker color around edges, in creases and anywhere a shadow would be.
   
   Highlights should be added with a lighter color or simply by removing color with an eraser.

   

6. Step 6

   Now put the card together. There is no need to seal the image. Gamsol sets the colors so there's no worry about smudging.
   

   

Variations

Pencils
Your colored pencils must be waterproof. Water soluble pencils will not blend with mineral spirits. Usually the box will just say colored pencils and not have anything that refers to aqua or water (like Aquarelle).

Stampin' Up! Pure Color, Derwent Studio Line, and Faber-Castell (better quality, but pricier) pencils also work for this technique, but Prismacolor Pencils have more colors to choose from. You can always blend two or more colors together to get the shade that you want, it's just extra work.

Blending Stumps


Clean your stump often with an emery board or sanding block so that the tip of the stump is not holding too much color. Sharpen the tip for finer work. The emery board also serves to rough up the tip (if the tip gets shiny you'll notice it just squeaks on the paper and doesn't move the color around).

Twinkling H20's ~ rubber stamping technique

They are wonderful for "direct to rubber" techniques.

Here's how:
1. Spray a little water with a fine mist spray bottle or even just drop a few drops of water in with an eyedropper. Mix the water into the paint with your paintbrush. Have several paintbrushes on hand to do this, one for each color you're using.

2. Make sure that your stamp doesn't "resist" the paint. Some stamps, especially the bold ones, resist water-based paints due to a coating on the rubber from manufacturing. If your ink pens or the H2O's tend to bead up on your stamp, just lightly sand the rubber with a fine grit sandpaper (I use 600 grit) and clean the stamp.

3. Paint the H20's onto the rubber. Bold stamps work well, but fine line work well too! If you're quick with your painting and your paint is still wet, stamp immediately. Otherwise, use a fine mist bottle and lightly mist your rubber, then stamp. Mist again, stamp again to get a lighter impression. Do this again to create various depths of image brightness and to create "shadows".

4. Let dry and enjoy!

The Hero Arts real flowers collection works exceptionally well with this method.

Painting with Twinkling H2o's

1. open the jars and spritz with a mist or 2 of water. Let it sit about 30 sec. This preps the cake-softens it a bit so you can easily add more water and mix. I use the spritzer bottle to add fresh water through my paint session as needed& a big jar of water to clean my brush.

2. I don't use a water brush like many do. I like to control the amount of water& with a waterbrush I find that harder to achieve. It's convenient for travel, but I have more success with a regular paint bush. I keep a big jar of water, clean my brush & gently squeeze the bristles to remove excess water. There is still plenty on the brush to paint with, sometimes all you need is a damp brush. If it drips....it's too much.

3. I also don't paint directly from the pot for the most part. I take my colour from the cake on my brush to a plastic palette. (piece of plastic, glass, old plate, anything that works, even the lid) This keep my colour shade consistent through the painting. If I take the paint from the pot as I paint (I am not a speed painter) the cake absorbs the water, get thicker & I find myself having to reconstitute the paint. This means I might end up with a different shade then I started with. With the paint on a palette it stays the same. Even if it dries on palette, dip your brush in fresh water, squeeze out the bristles & pick up your color from the palette. You can easily reconstitute these paints. You need not clean the palette either. Just leave it till next time and you can always re- wet and use or make color washes after your paint session is over.

4. Less is more!! The less water you use, the more intense the shimmer. Practice on a scrap on paper. Lots of water equals a paler shade and less shimmer. Little water equals intense shade and lots of shine.

5. Start with embossed images rather then a scene till you get the hang of it. The embossing acts as little "barriers" or reservoirs for your paint. Also, the shimmer will often obscure your stamp lines. You can over-stamp with positioner, but this is a fast easy way to make them really stand out.

6. You can use regular card stock with H20's. It's one of the things I love about these paints! While it's wonderful on sheer heaven, expensive watercolor & such, you don't need them to use your Twinkling H20's. Practice on plain old card stock first. I've painted on cheap envelopes, copy paper & plain old card stock with little to no wrinkling. Just keep in mind you'll want to use less water. Actually I prefer to use them on smoother, less absorbent paper like traditional watercolor. I find it easier to blend the colors on smooth paper& the shimmer shows up so much more IMHO. And the shimmer is why we shelled out for these paints isn't it?

7. Twinkling H20's dry so fast I generally don't blot my paper at all. If it does wrinkle, spritz the BACK of the paper, sandwich in-between wax paper and put inside a phone book to flatten.

8. These colors blend so easily. To blend your colors just clean your brush and squeeze it out so it's just damp. Go over the colors to blend & you will be surprised at how smoothly they flow together.