Smart Blending Stump Set, 3 Pieces, Assorted Sizes

A blending stump is tightly rolled paper wound to a point at both ends, and it is the tool that turns loose graphite, charcoal or pastel into smooth continuous tone. Your finger blends too, but it leaves skin oil on the paper and cannot reach a small area; a stump blends clean and gets into the corners a finger cannot.

Load it by rubbing it in a patch of graphite and you can then draw with the collected tone — a stump is a drawing tool in its own right, not only a smudger. When the tip greys over, peel or sand it back to clean paper. Keep separate stumps for dark and light values, because a stump that has worked black charcoal will dirty a pale passage the moment it touches it.

A set of three stumps in assorted sizes — a small one for detail, a large one for broad areas, a mid-size for everything between. Having the range is what lets you keep a stump per value and per scale instead of dirtying one across a whole drawing.

• Tightly rolled paper, pointed at both ends
• Blends graphite, charcoal and pastel to smooth tone
• Also draws with collected tone — not only a smudger
• Sand the tip clean; keep separate ones for dark and light