Making Your Own Background Papers

Hi Everyone--my name is Bianca and I am a new addition to the Copic team in the fine-arts division. My specialty is mixed-media and I do a lot of art journaling which is basically a journal with drawings, photographs, doodles and words.

Today I'm going to be talking about ways to turn recycled paper (such as old textbook pages, vintage sheet music or ledger paper) into your own unique background papers using your copic ABS, some large foam stamps and antibacterial hand gel. Yep, you read right, hand sanitizer.

Since hand sanitizer has a high alcohol content, it bleaches the Copics out and since it is in gel form, it doesn't spread or bleed, leaving a clean crisp image on the paper. It's a similar process to stamping with blending solution on glossy card-stock, except you can do this process on ANY paper.

Here are a couple of samples of what you're going to be learning how to do both are on vintage ledger papers:

For the first two projects you'll need: recycled paper, non-stick surface, antibacterial hand gel, foam stamp, ABS and copic markers in the same color family. And for the third project you'll also need the re-inkers.

I decided the easiest way to show you the process was a video, I'm including thesteps for the basic technique at the bottom of the post:


Here is a page from my art journal that I made using papers that I made using the hand-sanitizer gel process for the house, roof, heart, and background sheet-music. To get a closer look, you might need to click on the image!

A big thank-you to all the folks at Copic OZ for letting me post today. If you have any questions you're welcome to contact me through my blog. If you're going to be stateside or are just interested on keeping up with my copic mixed-media classes you can sign-up for my mailing list.


Stamping with hand sanitizer basic instructions:
1. Airbrush three different colors from the same color family onto your paper
2. Put a small pile of hand sanitizer on your non-stick sheet and sink up your stamp by tapping it into the hand-gel.
3. Stamp your sheet with the foam stamp, lifting straight up to avoid smearing, then wipe off on a towel.
4. Repeat until sheet is covered, then set aside to dry.