Paper Tortillions and Stumps Assorted Pack of 5

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Due to how narrow the tip of a tortillon is, I would avoid using an x-acto knife with it. As you shave away the paper, it’ll be easy to weaken the tip or change its shape in a way you might not want. When is Your Tortillon too Far Gone to Save? Fold the tissue in half and then in half again. Fold it into a triangle one or two times until you can get a pointy corner that’s relatively stiff. Great for tight spaces! Make a tissue ball and wrap it inside another tissue. This is similar to the one above except you can blend a larger area.

Sanding the tips of your blending stump is also a great way to sharpen them. We all know how dull they can get after helping us with so much shading. Finger: Using your finger to blend a portrait is a big no no because the natural oils from your skin can cling onto the graphite, making the area impossible to erase. If you absolutely need to use your finger to blend, make sure to clean it very well using an oil/grease absorbing cloth/tissue. Blending stumps are not meant to last forever and they aren’t all that expensive. You will need to replace them when they get too worn down or dirty.

If cost is a big factor, it's possible to make your own tortillons. Just do a web search for DIY tortillons or similar. I've made them and been fairly satisfied with the results. Are they useful? Absolutely, but that hardly makes them a necessity. Blending stumps are an excellent tool for any artist that blends their drawings. What if you draw with ink? Or you don’t want to blend your drawings? If you’ve tried cleaning your blending stump with a kneaded eraser, sanded it down, and even shaved it away with an x-acto knife, but it’s still too dirty to use, it’s time to get a new blending stump.

It could also be that you’d rather buy a new blending stump instead of spending all that time trying to clean it. That’s ok too. Decide whether you want to have a couple blending stumps on hand so that you don’t have to interrupt an art session to run to the store, or be ready to take a few extra minutes to clean it. Tortillons are another option, but most artists, once they use a blending stump, will tell you that it’s usually a superior option in most cases. What Pressure Should be Applied when Using a Blending Stump? NOTE: I sometimes use a piece of fine sandpaper or an eraser to keep the tip of my tortillon clean as I use it. It just depends on how much blending of colors you want. Draw some tight scribbles in a small corner of a scrap piece of paper and work the graphite onto the paper stump. If needed, remove excess graphite by rubbing it in a clean area of the paper before using it on your drawing. Use light strokes to layer the graphite onto your portrait. Keep the direction consistent with your overall drawing. If you’re curious about how much pressure should be used when using a blending stump, the answer is that it depends. That’s like asking how hard you should press on a pencil when drawing something.

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However, this is not the case. Blending stumps have a much softer, more velvety type of surface to them when compared with tortillons. This usually gives the artist more control when blending, allowing them to achieve softer, smoother transitions in value. Do blending stumps and tortillons look similar? Yes. Are they used for similar purposes? Yes. Are they two names for the same thing? No. While similar in look and function, they are each a different artist tool. Is one better than another? But, if you took that piece of paper and wound it tightly, you would discover that it was much harder and more durable. Tightly winding the paper in a tortillon creates a harder object that can handle the abuse you will subject it to. How Do You Use Blending Stumps and Tortillons?

The benefit of making your own blending tool is that you can customize the type of paper and level of softness. There will come a point when you knead and knead and knead your kneaded eraser and it doesn’t return to that lovely light gray color that we’re used to seeing when it’s clean. Instead, it will stay as a dark gray lump. Once you begin rolling, keep the paper at an angle so that the point will stay small. If the angle is not extreme enough, the end will not come to a point. Instead, you can use tortillons for larger areas, rough layouts, and initial shading. When one becomes dull or dirty, you just throw it out and grab a new one. Blending Stumps and Tortillons Will Help You to Become a Better ArtistDespite their ability to achieve smoother transitions, blending stumps are usually much firmer. This gives an artist more control since the tip of the stump won’t usually bend, unlike tortillons. Silicon colour shapers and blenders are available in different softnesses, shapes and sizes. From chisel tip to round point, and they’re capable of a wide range of effects.

Drag the stub to smudge different elements of your drawing. You can use small circular motions to create interesting patterns on things like shrubs and trees. Makeup brushes are primarily designed for blending makeup so designed perfectly for this job. I have a few brushes for blending my drawings, from blusher brushes to eye shadow brushes and used accordingly depending on the size of the areas I need to blend. They have a really delicate touch and blend very well indeed, with a smooth consistent flow. This is particularly important on pencil portraits as they can have very delicate tones on skin. The smaller firmer brushes are also very good but the firmer the bristles of the brush the harder it will blend. I use these type of brushes for blending larger areas of my artwork, I still revert to by blending stump/totillion for the finer detail areas that need blending.You probably noticed that the suggestions for cleaning a blending stump and cleaning a tortillon are the same. But, what’s different is the amount of care you need to take with your tortillion versus your blending stump. Some artists choose tortillons instead of blending stumps because of the cost. Blending stumps are far from expensive, but you can usually buy 10 or more tortillons for the exact cost of a single blending stump. You can still use it in dark areas of a drawing, but that’s pretty limiting, so most artists just throw them out. What do you do when a blending stump gets dirty? You can use a kneaded eraser to clean the surface, returning it to a usable condition. Gently sand the tip of your blending stump, being careful to maintain the point and sand each side evenly.