DerwentBlender & Burnisher Pencil Blister Pack, Set Of 4, Eraser & Sharpener Included, Professional Quality, 2301774

Good pencils, blend colours well.

These are just what I needed, very easy to work with. Work great with all my coloured pencils, great value too. Great quality no breakage so far and I've sharpened a few times.

I bought these to use with my Polychromos pencils as I felt they may really make my colouring in a lot more polished and easier to blend.To begin there is the blender. It rough texture mixes two colours together to make a seamless blend, perfect for adding depth or for smoothing out large open spaces in a colouring book. I did find though, some colouring-in magazines have thinner paper that this pencil can tear through if used in one area too much.Second there is the burnisher. I found it wasn't particularly useful for me. For an artist who has more skill, this may help a lot, but I found it did not add anything much to my colouring in, and didn't seem to have much of an effect when used with my Polychromos pencils.The sharpener is okay, useful more as a spare in case you cant find you're favourite one. The eraser is good, a bit crumbly, but does its job well. If you enjoy colouring in on you're spare time like myself this kit definitely worth investing in.

This blister pack contains two kinds of pencil:First a blender. This is essentially a pigment free pencil, it is the waxy carrier for pigment and that is it. With this pencil you can smooth two (or more) colours that have already been laid down on the page and mix them together. I find this useful in many circumstances where I don't want a distinct line between colours (e.g. clouds in the sky, smoke from a chimney, flesh tones in a portrait).Secondly, a burnisher. This gives your work a subtle sheen. It's not glossy like a varnish, but a lovely subtle shimmer. I'm particularly fond of using it where light is hitting a body of water, it really gives a lift to your work. There is a slight change in the colour/depth on the page when you add the burnisher, but it's not dramatic. I also use the burnisher with Derwent Inktense 24 Tin range of pencils. If you lay down the burnisher on the page it is waxy enough to resist water - so with the Inktense when you create a wash of colour you can leave gaps in the wash by protecting the page with the burnisher. I'm sure this would work with Derwent Watercolour 72 Pencil Set in a Wooden Box range of pencils too.Sharpener and eraser are also standard Derwent quality (i.e. very high) and are an added bonus. Always handy items.

These are very good quality additions to your good quality coloured pencils. The blender gives you the ability to mix colour on the page, softening transitions between colours and tones and giving endless possibilities on top of the colours in the tin. How many layers of colour you can put down depends on the quality of your paper. Think of it a little like the smudge tool in a graphics program, it is almost as versatile. The burnisher does more than add shine. Burnishing in coloured pencil refers to putting a lighter colour over a darker to create a subtle highlight or (with the effect of making a shine) the effect of adding moistness to create a realistic look to an eye for example. If a highlight is to be stark, then the paper is left to show though. Sometimes a touch of the burnisher over the plain paper can be a more realistic effect than the plain paper highlight but care is needed to make sure not to overdo any of these techniques.The eraser and sharpener are a nice bonus with this set. While I tend to use kneadable erasers for most of the lifting of colour that I need, an eraser like this is perfect for lifting a graphite pencil outline so that it is not worked into the coloured pencil. It is vital to clean a sketch as you render the colour as graphite and coloured pencil do not mix. The sharpener is very good quality and won't damage your coloured pencils at all. If you're experimenting with coloured pencil painting, then this is a neccesary addition to your tools.

Great set and a brilliant price!I do tend to use the blender more than the burnisher but my Daughter uses her burnisher more than her blender so I now have two blenders from this set and my Daughter as the burnishers.These pencils blend and burnish both Goldfabers and Prisma colours very well and sharpen like a dream with our Faber-Castell three holed sharpeners.Update: it's now 2020, two years since my review, and although my Daughter has evolved on to Copic Ciao markers I am still into Adult colouring books and own a full set of Prisma colour Premier pencils so i dont tend to use my blenders as much preferring to layer colours to create the effect, but for small details these still work very well and i wouldn't be without a set in my art supply kit.