Colored pencil Gamsol blending ~ tortillion or stumps

I'm mostly a card maker and do most of my coloring work with Prismacolor Premier Pencils and Gamsol or OMS since I cannot afford Copics. When I first started out I bought both stumps and tortillons. I got really frustrated with the stumps as I just could not get them to work like I thought they should. I have not used the stumps in years because I do not like the process nor results with them. I also had problems with the tortillons at first until I realized that the brand of tortillons does make a huge difference. There a number of brands that are a bright white, stiff paper type and do not absorb the OMS nor blend the pigments well. There was an anonymous brand of grey rag tortillons that were wonderful to work with, but they no longer seem to be available.

After much trial and error, I now almost exclusively use Loew-Cornell blending tortillons. I don't love them as much as the grey rag ones, but they work reasonably well. I get them from Joanns, Dick Blick or officesupply.com when they are on sale: www.dickblick.com/products/tortillons/?clickTracking=true&wmcp=pla&wmcid=items&wmckw=22865-1014&gclid=CNeN8K_W88YCFUxqfgod2UcElw

I was surprised at how easy it was when I made my first project with the non-bright white paper ones. I do have to dip them frequently in OMS but I use a Menda glass pump so it is not a problem. I do feel I get better control because they are so short. I also keep a sandpaper paddle block handy so I can keep my points sharp. Here is the very first thing I colored with my new LC tortillons and what was then my brand new 120 set of Prismacolors: www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2478523?&cat=500&ppuser=122120

I would suggest that maybe you try a few different brands of tortillons and see if you can find one that works best for you.