Gamsol Tutorial

Supplies:
Gamsol (odorless mineral spirits)
Colored Pencils
Sta Z on
Blending Stumps
Stamp
Cardstock













First stamp your image with Sta Z on or any other ink that does not smudge. This elephant is from the Hero Arts Elephants set.








Next color your darker areas with colored pencils. Be sure to not leave any white space because it usually doesn't blend right.







Then fill in the rest with the lighter colors. Notice how scribbley and uneven the coloring is: it will turn out just fine.







Next you take your blending stamp and dampen it with Gamsol. The more you put on the stump the more color it will pick up. So if you made an area too dark more Gamsol will help tone it down. This Gamsol is from My Heart's Fancy. It is from Inky Antics. It came with a small and medium blending stump, an instruction book, and this great container of Gamsol. With the spong on top it makes it easy to control the amount of Gamsol you get. When I went to And Bear Makes 3 they had Gamsol in just a jar. You would have to make an effort to not get too much on your stump.








Finally you take your moistened stump and blend from the outsde (or darker area) in. You can blend the color out of the lines so be careful.





The end result is an image that looks like it has been beautifully watercolored but with minimal effort on your part without the need to use watercolor paper to avoid wrinkling and pilling.