Brushes make good blenders for graphite pencil, but the bristles are usually too long to be effective as they are. To make a better blender, trim their bristles. Rubbing the trimmed bristles on a sandpaper block smooths and shapes the brush further. Here’s how I make my blending brushes.
Making Blenders From Brushes
A No. 2 flat brush trimmed back to about 1/8 of an inch makes a small blender for delicate shading. That length will give you the right stiffness for “pushing” graphite for most No. 2 brushes. I trim these brushes straight across. I usually don’t use a sandpaper block on these small brushes.
A No. 3 and larger flat brush can be trimmed into an angle of approximately 1/8″ to 1/4″ long. If the brush bristles are white, I mark the measurements on the brush with a pencil. Then, I cut along the line with sharp scissors. You have to hold the bristles in place as you cut, as I’m doing here, or they will slide away from the scissors.
I make my half-round brushes out of No. 3 brushes, too. I mark the shape I want on the bristles with a pencil, with the apex at about 1/4″, and use a large set of nail clippers to cut the half-round shape. The nail clippers pinch the bristles as they cut and keep them from slipping away, and they are half-round so they help cut the shape.
Smoothing and Shaping Blenders With Sandpaper
After cutting, I rub the ends of the bristles of both angled and half round brushes back and forth over sandpaper to smooth and shape them.
You can see the difference between an unsanded and sanded brush in the image to the left. The sanded brush (on the right) is tapered, softer, and is a much better blender than the unsanded one.
To sand and soften the bristles of a brush, pinch the bristles between your fingers and rub them back and forth over the sandpaper at different angles. Check the bristles frequently because the sandpaper can sand through them quickly.
To sand the ends of the bristles, hold the brush perpendicularly to the sandpaper and rub back and forth. This will soften the interior of the brush too, so don’t skip this step.
Sand the sides of the brush by pulling them along the sandpaper. You can put a finger on the brush and press down for a more forceful pull to speed up the process. Again, check your progress often.
You can expect to spend ten to twenty minutes sanding a No. 3 brush into a well shaped blender.
I don’t recommend any particular brand of brush, but I have a warning about Liquitex Basics brushes and bristle brushes. Bristle brushes are too stiff to blend graphite well, and Liquitex Basics brushes actually “lift” the graphite. I asked the Liquitex company about this phenomenon, and they said that they engineered their Basics brushes to “lift” watercolor paint, and it didn’t surprise them to hear that their brush had the same effect on graphite! And, yes, I have used my Liquitex Basics blender to lift graphite from areas that had become too dark, and it worked well in a subtle and gentle way.
Happy blending,
Carol