diff --git a/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h b/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h
index 66fbd8d5c..510ce8238 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h
+++ b/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h
@@ -419,7 +419,8 @@ void cogl_material_set_alpha_test_function (CoglHandle            material,
  * @error: A GError that may report lack of driver support if you give
  *         separate blend string statements for the alpha channel and RGB
  *         channels since some drivers or backends such as GLES 1.1 dont
- *         support this.
+ *         support this. May be %NULL, in which case a warning will be
+ *         printed out if an error is encountered.
  *
  * If not already familiar; please refer
  * <link linkend="cogl-Blend-Strings">here</link> for an overview of what blend
@@ -536,6 +537,8 @@ void cogl_material_remove_layer (CoglHandle material,
  * @blend_string: A <link linkend="cogl-Blend-Strings">Cogl blend string</link>
  *                describing the desired texture combine function.
  * @error: A GError that may report parse errors or lack of GPU/driver support.
+ *         May be %NULL, in which case a warning will be printed out if an
+ *         error is encountered.
  *
  * If not already familiar; you can refer
  * <link linkend="cogl-Blend-Strings">here</link> for an overview of what blend
diff --git a/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-material.c b/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-material.c
index 68198858a..831fa30f1 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-material.c
+++ b/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-material.c
@@ -533,6 +533,7 @@ cogl_material_set_blend (CoglHandle handle,
   CoglBlendStringStatement split[2];
   CoglBlendStringStatement *rgb;
   CoglBlendStringStatement *a;
+  GError *internal_error = NULL;
   int count;
 
   g_return_val_if_fail (cogl_is_material (handle), FALSE);
@@ -543,9 +544,19 @@ cogl_material_set_blend (CoglHandle handle,
     _cogl_blend_string_compile (blend_description,
                                 COGL_BLEND_STRING_CONTEXT_BLENDING,
                                 statements,
-                                error);
+                                &internal_error);
   if (!count)
-    return FALSE;
+    {
+      if (error)
+	g_propagate_error (error, internal_error);
+      else
+	{
+	  g_warning ("Cannot compile blend description: %s\n",
+		     internal_error->message);
+	  g_error_free (internal_error);
+	}
+      return FALSE;
+    }
 
   if (statements[0].mask == COGL_BLEND_STRING_CHANNEL_MASK_RGBA)
     {
@@ -806,6 +817,7 @@ cogl_material_set_layer_combine (CoglHandle handle,
   CoglBlendStringStatement split[2];
   CoglBlendStringStatement *rgb;
   CoglBlendStringStatement *a;
+  GError *internal_error = NULL;
   int count;
 
   g_return_val_if_fail (cogl_is_material (handle), FALSE);
@@ -817,9 +829,19 @@ cogl_material_set_layer_combine (CoglHandle handle,
     _cogl_blend_string_compile (combine_description,
                                 COGL_BLEND_STRING_CONTEXT_TEXTURE_COMBINE,
                                 statements,
-                                error);
+                                &internal_error);
   if (!count)
-    return FALSE;
+    {
+      if (error)
+	g_propagate_error (error, internal_error);
+      else
+	{
+	  g_warning ("Cannot compile combine description: %s\n",
+		     internal_error->message);
+	  g_error_free (internal_error);
+	}
+      return FALSE;
+    }
 
   if (statements[0].mask == COGL_BLEND_STRING_CHANNEL_MASK_RGBA)
     {