Copic + Crate w/Kaori Watanabe

Hi Everyone! Kaori Watanabe with you today to share an unusual tutorial on how to use Copic's very cool Air-Brushing System in conjunction with Crate's products! I love to color backgrounds with either mist, or acrylic paints. I also really like Copic's inks too, which are conveniently alcohol based - follow along as I go about showing the system "in action"! It's quite slick...

The Essentials: Portrait Pattern Papers {Pearls, Honeymoon, June, Bouquet}, Portrait Accent Cuts, Portrait Chipboard, Portrait Ribbon, Portrait Stickers, Portrait Buttons & Vellum Paper, Copic Air-Brush System, Copic Markers {Tahitian Blue, Golden Yellow}

 

Here's a look at the Copic Air-Brush System, including the coinciding, chosen markers.  I decided to go the route of blue because the predominant photo color is blue. I then paired it up with bright yellow! The gradation between the two is fairly good too, which is another reason for my selecting them for the layout.

 

If you've not seen one of these set-up before, then take note, because it's easy to prep! Simply set it up as shown and you're ready to spray the color! 

 

The real advantage of the Copic set-up is that it allows for a great deal of control during the application of the ink. The color is well saturated too, so there's very little concern as to the amount of ink being sprayed and whether or not warping will be an issue. For example, in the case of mist, I'm not always so sure where it'll land upon application, but with Copic, it's extremely easy to control the coloration. 

 

I very carefully sprayed small spurts of both blue and yellow ink on Portrait's patterned paper, Pearls. {*Don't forget to protect your work surface before spraying!}. 

 

To now further embellish the layout, I focused on attaching additional Portrait patterned papers, accent cuts, a few non-specific items {check out the transparency butterfly!}, ribbon and a lovely display of punched flowers. Punch the flowers from vellum - intermix the vellum flowers with colored ones punched from Portrait's Bouquet patterned paper. 

 

I used one of my favorite Portrait lacy ribbons as an accent. To maintain it's ruffled appearance, gather it via hand and sew along it's length with a sewing machine. 

 

As a second ribbon, I attached Portrait's thin silver/white trim in a non-conforming manner and to help maintain it's path, I applied glue dots to several different places. 

 

I'd love for you to be able to give the Copic system a try and while you're at it, start thinking about what your favorite colors would be and how you'd go about applying them. Thank-you for stopping by the Crate Blog today - do enjoy the tutorial and I'll see you again next month!

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Thanks to Big Picture, Crate's to select a giveaway WINNER from BPC's soon-to-debut online course, "BPC Colour! Or is it Color?" taught by Basic Grey designer, Nic Howard  - so who's the lucky recipient to start off the week with a free color expert class? Congratulations to our randomly chosen winner:

"What a wonderful class to take, thanks for giving us a chance to learn about colour."
Posted by: Christine Lovelace | June 24, 2011 at 08:27 AM

Please contact us at cpblog@cratepaper.com so that we can set you up with BPC in preparation for the upcoming event - we'll be awaiting your email! Congrats once again!

And an honored and heartfelt thank-you to Big Picture for giving us the opportunity to host the giveaway here..it's always nice to do something a little different from time to time and we're confident that our visitors enjoyed it as well!

 

Comments

[Kelly Sas]

I wish sooooo bad I could afford the Copic system. I am blessed to have a friend who allows me to use her's and I LOVE it. I know if I had my own Copics I would get better at the shading etc. Oh well, I am blessed to have a wonderful family and sharing wonderful friends!

[Carol (ScrapMomOf2)]

OMG, what a STUNNING layout!!

[Pamela Young]

Wow...what an awesome layout!!! :)

[Amy S.]

GORGEOUS layout!!!

[sarah]

fab page!! x

[Debbi Tehrani]

Your work is amazing, Kaori! Love your style so much. Thank you for sharing this cool technique!

[Julie Tucker-Wolek]

I loveeeeeeeee airbrushing!! This is AMAZING! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)