Opaque brush in PSE8

Hi all.
I am using Photoshop Elements 8 with an intuous4 tablet.
I have problems with brushes.
I would like to have a brush with controllably soft edges, but that is really opaque in its center.
I tried a brush tool, I set opacity 100%, Hardness 100%, size sensitive to pressure, steps 1% and even with this I have to pass over the same strokes 2-3 times before the core part of the stroke becomes really opaque and covers the colors below!
I tried to use the Pencil tool, but it has hard edges, not controllable (Excepf for Anti Alias).
Can anybody help me?
Thanks
Fab

Possibly adjusting the flow setting (not visible, but the PS shortcut works in PSE) would help. See the post by Terri_F here:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/2602125#2602125

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