Stamping with Copic

Hello Everyone and welcome back to another Copic Oz Tutorial!  Today I'm going to be talking about stamping with Copic.  Many people think that Copics are for colouring images - which is true, but you can achieve other effects by using them direct to rubber!  Please note that I do say Rubber.....not clear or acrylic stamps - these techniques don't work with clear stamps!  Some people think that you can't do direct to rubber with Copics, but that isn't true!!  You just need to know how to use Copics which are alcohol based compared to the waterbased markers which people are more familiar with using on these techniques.

I've taken a BG18 Copic Sketch Marker and applied the ink direct to the rubber sentiment.  The ink WILL dry on the stamp.....this is normal!  :)  This sentiment stamp is from Butterfly Dreams by JustRite Papercraft.

Water based markers need to you 'huff' on them to reactivate the ink, this obviously won't work with Copics because they are alcohol based.  To 'reactivate' the ink on the stamp you need alcohol, so take your Colourless Blender (0) Marker and dampen an area of X-press It Blending Card big enough to stamp your sentiment on.

Stamp your sentiment onto the area dampened with the Colourless Blender!

You can follow the same procedure to make dual coloured sentiments (or use as many colours as you like)!!  This time I've coloured the word 'Happiness' in V09 and the rest of the sentiment with BG18.  Then once again I've dampened some X-press It Blending Card with the Colourless Blender and stamped the sentiment over the top!  The beauty of this technique is you can always make your sentiment the perfect colour match for any project you are making!

There is another way of using the direct to rubber technique!  This time I've taken the butterfly image stamp from the same stamp set and coloured it with R85, Y38 and N7.  Of course, like the sentiment, the ink has dried on the stamp however instead of dampening the card, I've used a Mist It filled with Colourless Blender Refill Ink to spritz it. 

Stamp the spritzed image onto blending card.  This will give you a softer effect much like a watercolour painting instead of the crisp look of the previous technique.

For a bit of fun I've also created the background for my card with a Copic Resist style technique!

Stamp the butterfly in VersaMark ink over a piece of white X-press It Blending Card and heat emboss with Clear Embossing Powder.  Let this cool before the next step.

I've used V09 and BG18 and an airbrush system to airbrush over the butterfly card.  Buff the excess ink off the embossed parts.  If it's a little stubborn, spritz a little Colourless Blender Refill Ink onto a baby wipe (not too much!!) and you'll see the white card show through the clear embossing powder.

Make sure you clean your stamps with Colourless Blender Refill or rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to get your stamps nice and clean for the next time you want to try this technique and don't forget to wipe any excess ink off your markers if they've picked up some colour left on the rubber by simply scribbling your markers onto scrap paper.  :) 

Have some fun creating your own background and using your Copics for Direct to Rubber technique and leave a comment here so we can see what you've made!  We'd love to see what you create!

Enjoy!
Kathy  :)