Monday, June 8, 2009

Copic Butterflies

In a recent fit of insanity I joined an image swap with 35 participants. Each participant is to stamp five different images per person. This means that when I've done my duty, I will have stamped at least 175 perfect images. I have about two weeks to accomplish this. Thought for the day: What on earth was I thinking?!



Since I need to get my images in the mail soon, I decided it would be wise to start stamping yesterday afternoon. I picked the butterfly from SU!'s God's Beauty set as my first image. I tell ya, I think I was jinxed. I'm using Palette Noir Black ink on SU! Whisper White cardstock, and it seemed that yesterday afternoon I just could not get the images to turn out acceptably. I admit that I'm a perfectionist, so that may be part of the problem; but is it too much to ask for a crisp black image on white cardstock?? I pulled out all my tricks of the trade -- stamping on a mousepad, stamping on a pile of paper, gently sanding my rubber so it would have some tooth to hold ink... I finally broke down and ordered a reinker for my inkpad, so maybe that will help.



In order to get 34 perfect images, I ended up stamping the image about 55 times. Then I started puzzling over what to do with the not-so-perfect butterflies. I couldn't stand the idea of throwing them out -- that'd be a total waste of cardstock -- and even giving them to the neighbor kids to play with didn't feel right. Then it hit me: What a perfect image to practice my Copic blending on!!



This is my first real Copic use, and I'm pretty pleased with how the butterflies came out. I mean, not bad -- for a beginner. The main thing I learned is that the Colorless Blender is my best friend when working with Copic markers. I can't wait to use what I learned in making some cards... very soon... I hope... I promise...





2 comments:

Katie Kleber said...

how bee-u-T-ful!

i can't wait to see what you do with them next...

peace

rush8888 said...

i wish i had butterflies flying around in my room, but then again, i wouldn't get anything done. now....about these markers....i want some, but i don't know where i could try one out. i will have to figure that out. or, maybe i won't - another expense! and, i would NEED them all.