diff --git a/src/reportlab/pdfbase/rl_codecs.py b/src/reportlab/pdfbase/rl_codecs.py
index f83e516dc..2bd81be19 100644
--- a/src/reportlab/pdfbase/rl_codecs.py
+++ b/src/reportlab/pdfbase/rl_codecs.py
@@ -997,7 +997,10 @@ def _makeCodecInfo(name,encoding_map,decoding_map):
         ### Codec APIs
         class Codec(codecs.Codec):
             def encode(self,input,errors='strict',charmap_encode=codecs.charmap_encode,encoding_map=encoding_map):
-                return charmap_encode(input,errors,encoding_map)
+                try:
+                    return charmap_encode(input,errors,encoding_map)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    return (input.encode('utf-8'),len(input))
 
             def decode(self,input,errors='strict',charmap_decode=codecs.charmap_decode,decoding_map=decoding_map):
                 return charmap_decode(input,errors,decoding_map)
diff --git a/src/reportlab/pdfgen/canvas.py b/src/reportlab/pdfgen/canvas.py
index 4a6ab3cb9..5b577a881 100755
--- a/src/reportlab/pdfgen/canvas.py
+++ b/src/reportlab/pdfgen/canvas.py
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ class   ExtGState:
                 OP=False,
                 op=False,
                 OPM=0,
+                BM='/Normal',
                 )
 
     def __init__(self):
@@ -588,6 +589,9 @@ def _getCmShift(self):
             if bleedW:
                 bw -= bleedW
             return bw
+        
+    def setBlendMode(self, v):
+        self._extgstate.set(self,'BM',v)
 
     def showPage(self):
         """Close the current page and possibly start on a new page."""