#2596

Materials used:

Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits. Use a small wide mouth jar with a sponge in the bottom. Pour in enough Gamsol to come half way up the sponge. Do not cover the sponge. You need to soak up Gamsol on the blending tool you will be using, and if you overfill, it gives you too much.

Michael's also sells Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner which is the same thing as the Gamsol.

Marvy Matchables black ink is my first choice. Any waterproof ink will do, but MM cleans off the stamp easily and is a small, hard pad that is easy to handle.  Make sure the pad is well inked.

Micron .005 archival ink pen is used for filling in any stamping details that might be missing when stamped.

Prismacolor Premier Wax Pencils. Others work too, but these are heavily wax based and spread nicely with the Gamsol application.

Blending stumps, tortillons and Q-tips.
Choose smaller tortillons for the darker shades of each color family and use a blending stump for the lighter shades of each color family. Color on a sample of the pencil near the end of each stump and label it with the pencil color and name. Do the same with the tortillons. Color swatches make it easy to locate when searching for the colors and you will not duplicate them, saving money.

Q tips: I use Swisspers Supreme Cotton Swabs primarily because they have a wooden stick (not pictured) and a tight head. That allows for good absorption of the Gamsol and good release of it when moving the color around. Meijer in Michigan sells them and they are also available online. Meijer Brand and Royal Brand wooden stick swabs are other brands I have also used. I store them upright in a small open jar for easy access, and they can be used over and over again. Do not mix the colors.