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ZEST - IT Pencil Blend 125 ml, TZP125

£67.495£134.99Clearance
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When blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a brush (1 layer) vs blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a paper stump (1 layer)– The pencil blend with a brush struggled to soften the drawn lines, which proves added pressure is more effective. Using the Pencil Blend increased the darkness and intensity of the graphite, but didn’t do much in terms of softening drawn lines. The paper stump softened the lines more than the brush.

Shading with the pencil without any blending –the vellum texure of the paper accentuates the texture offered by the pencil when shading dry and unblended. When blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a brush (1 layer) vs blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a paper stump (1 layer)– The brush blended square still has traces of drawn lines in it. The tonal range is still as wide as the completely dry unblended square. There has been some blending and softening but it hasn’t been entirely successful. There’s a much smoother result in the paper stump blended square, although again the tonal range has been reduced where the stump has lifted some of the darkest shading. Conclusion with Luminance – by far most effective on Pastelmat, didn’t really work on the other papers, which implied it may not be suited to use with wax pencils. Testing its efficacy with a harder wax pencil – the Derwent Studio – will offer a useful comparison.

What is Pencil Blend?

Using lots of fluid is just a waste and swamps the pencil that has been laid, this 'washes' the pigment into the paper surface. The pastel pencil blended beautifully with a dry paper stump. Burnishing removed all the texture of the drawn lines to leave smooth colour. When blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a brush (3 layers) vs blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a paper stump (3 layers)– The ‘brush’ square looks a little rougher than the paper stump square, with traces of brush marks and drawn lines. The paper stump square appears completely smooth and deep in colour. It’s a good product but I think it’s way to expensive for the quantity you receive. When painting a picture I will need to use quite a bit of this product for my painting to be realistically blended. A Tortillion dampened with Pencil Blend from the Blending Sponge was used to give a smooth finish to the blending. Extra pencil was gently added where necessary and blended to form the cap of the mushroom.

How to use Zest-it Pencil Blend - with Tortillions or stumps. The Luminance pencil was applied this time to Bristol Board, the smooth surface helps with the transition of colour. When blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a brush (1 layer) vs blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a paper stump (1 layer)– Pencil Blend has more of an effect on this surface, with the majority of the drawn lines softened completely when it is applied with a brush and the shading taking on a more painterly quality. When applying the Pencil Blend with a paper stump the shading kept more of its pastel like texture. Bottom left: I burnished the colour with a dry paper stump, to see how much softening I could achieve without Pencil Blend. When I burnished with a dry paper stump– The paper stump has able to soften the lightest drawn lines, but in the darker corner the lines would not soften.The fine grain sponge holds 15 ml of Zest-it Pencil Blend. When you press your brush, paper stump or tortillion onto the surface it soaks up Zest-it liquid and you therefore control how much liquid is taken up. It has very low VOC's which means little is lost to the atmosphere, many prefer the safer aspects of the solvent than odourless mineral spirit or similar solvents, most of which are flammable. Top left: pure pencil; bottom left: pencil blended with a dry paper stump; top right: blended with Pencil Blend and a brush; bottom right: blended with water and a brush When I burnished with a dry paper stump – The dry paper stump had minimal effect on the shading, you can see that the drawn lines have smudged a bit, but the drawn lines are still very much visible.

When blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a brush (3 layers) vs blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a paper stump (3 layers)– Drawn lines are dissolved with the brush and the gradation is maintained. With the paper stump the gradation is harder to control, and gets a bit lost. But the square looks very blended and smooth. When I burnished with a dry paper stump– The dry paper stump was able to soften most of the square but the shading kept a powdery look as some of the colour is held in the crevices of the paper’s texture. How to use Zest-it Pencil Blend - with a brush. The Coloured Pencil was applied to watercolour paper in the normal way, graduated as can be seen in the image left. When blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a brush (3 layers) vs blending with Pencil Blend (CF) and a paper stump (3 layers) –The colour does look significantly more saturated after 3 layers have been applied with the Lyra, so the paper is able to take more colour. The gradation is maintained more successfully in the square where the PB has been applied with a brush. However with the Pablo it was a struggle to even put the second layer of colour on – the paper didn’t seem to have any more capacity for holding colour. I did find that I needed to change my brush technique when blending to get the best result. If I move the brush in a circular motion on the surface it helps the solvent work into the drawn lines and soften them. I have learned that the build up of friction is necessary in dissolving the pencil, you can’t just expect one brush stroke to smooth the lines. With both the Lyra and Pablo pencils it was very difficult to maintain the gradation from dark – light when blending with a paper stump dipped in PB, but it was successful in softening out the drawn lines to make solid squares of colour. Shading with the pencil without any blending – As expected, visible drawn lines and a fair amount of texture as accentuated by the grain of the paper.

I then thought I would try blending with water to see what results occurred in comparison. The water went some way to blending but it was very uneven. Some drawn lines were completely softened but it accentuated other areas where the graphite was less dissolvable, creating interesting textures but a no means smooth, blended, burnished square.

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