Copic Various Ink Refills by Sharon Harnist

Today I'll be covering a few new, different ways you can use your Copic Various Ink Refills on a variety of surfaces.  With 334 colors to choose from, I know you'll find the just the right color for your project, so let's get started!

 

 
{Tag Supplies}
Stamps: CHF Kim Hughes-Little Gal
Paper: #8 Manilla Tag
Ranger: Non-Stick Craft Sheet, Mini Misters-Individual or Mini Mister Set, Worn Lipstick Distress Ink Pad, Glossy Accents
Copic: Various Ink Refills-BG11, BG13, YR31, R85, R20 (lace)
Accessories: Advantus Tim Holtz Mask-Regal Mini, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; May Arts Wide Silk Ribbon-Ivory or White; Maya Road White Vintage Crochet Trim & Mini Alphabet Chipboard-Noah; Zva Clear Crystal Swirls, Zig 2-Way Glue, Martha Stewart Essential Colors Glitter Set-Feldspar

My first project uses Copic's Various Ink Refills in Ranger's Mini Misters, to spray the color onto a #8 Manilla Tag.  To begin, I used Tim Holtz's Regal Mini masks:

 

Before starting your project be sure to protect your work surface, so that accidental overspray won't ruin anything.  Here, I have paper towels covering my Non-Stick Craft Sheet (mostly just so the colors will show up brighter against the white towels).

I placed the self-adhesive backed masks (discolored from previous use!) onto my tag AFTER spritzing the tag with BG11 Copic Various Ink Refill in the spots that I wanted to remain that color:

 

Next, I spritzed the tag randomly with Copic YR31 Various Ink Refill (appears orangey in the Mini Mister):

 

And finally, R85 Various Ink Refill was randomly misted:

 

Next, I inked Kim Hughes-Little Gal stamps with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and stamped them randomly on the tag ... see the pretty BG11 color now showing from underneath the crown and swirl, once the masks were removed?!

 

Copic BG13 marker was used to color the Maya Road Mini Alphabet Chipboard-Noah letter (you could also use the BG13 Various Ink Refill in a Mini Mister) and then Zig 2-Way Glue was used to adhere Martha Stewart's Essential Colors Glitter in Feldspar to the letter.  Glossy Accents was used to adhere the letter to the tag.

Across the bottom of the tag, I used Maya Road White Vintage Crochet Trim that was misted with Copic Various Ink Refills in R20 & R85, for a rosy variegated look:

 

The ribbon is held in place with Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher staples, and Zva Clear Crystal Swirls also accent the tag.  Here's a closer look at the bottom portion of the finished tag:

 

To finish the top of the tag, I custom dyed May Arts Wide White Silk Ribbon (or you could use Ivory) by placing random dots of BG13 Various Ink Refill directly onto the ribbon:

 

Working quickly, I misted the lighter BG11 Refill all over the ribbon so that it would bleed into the darker BG13 dots and combine all together, for a variegated look:

 

You could use the ribbon just like this, or to achieve the popular wrinkled look, I lightly misted the ribbon with water and wrinkled it up:

 

One bonus to using the Copic Various Ink Refills for this type of application, is that the color won't bleed all over your hands like dye ink might!  Just leave the bunched-up ribbon to dry and then tie around the tag hole:

 

I love the shabby/messy look and especially that the ribbon perfectlly matches all the other blue-green elements on the tag!

My next project uses Copic Various Ink Refills to custom color electrical plate covers to match your walls!  Since having our guest powder room and dining room custom painted 2-1/2 years ago, the still-white electrical plate covers had been an eyesore that I wanted to do something about!

 
{Electrical Plate Supplies}
Copic: Various Ink Refills-YR24, E57, E59; Colorless Blender Solution,
Ranger: Alcohol Ink Applicator, Pearl Metallic Mixative, Copper Metallic Mixative, Mini Misters-Individual or Mini Mister Set,
Other: Plastic electrical switch plates & screws

Now, why would you want to use Copic Refill Ink to do this job instead of the paint used for the walls?  #1 - the same type of paint used on walls generally will not adhere well to plastic and even if you do get it to dry on them, one little nick or scratch will have the paint peeling right off.  #2 - My painter used about 4 different colors to achieve the wall color and even if I had enough of the touch-up paint left, I probably couldn't duplicate the exact color combination she created with layers of glazes and ragging & stippling of the color!

To start, I selected some shades of Copic markers I thought would work well, by just dabbing my markers on the electrical plate until I found some colors I thought would work match my walls.  Then I pulled out those Various Ink Refills:

 

Remember, those test colors will clean off easily with Copic's Colorless Blender Solution:

 

Next, I put some Copic YR24 Various Ink Refill into a Mini Mister:

 

And randomly sprayed some of the color:

 

I repeated the process with theE57 and E59 Various Ink Refills.  The color ended up being just a little darker than I wanted, so I decided to try and tone down the color a little, by adding some Ranger Pearl Metallic Mixative -- I just put some drops onto Ranger's Alcohol Ink Applicator and dabbed it on:

 

The Pearl Mixative gave the piece the metallic look that matched my walls!  Still experimenting, I decided to also try this process ... placing drops of the two lightest same colors from above (YR24 & E57) onto my Alcohol Ink Applicator, along with one spot of Copper Metallic Mixative, since copper is a predominent color in my walls:

 

I just pounced around the color in a pleasing pattern and this is what I ended up with:

 

A perfect match to my walls!  Now, if you are like me and the center electrical parts being white still bother you, you can always just replace the outlet with a different colored one -- either tan or maybe black would work here.  Or, if you make sure the power is cut off to the outlet you want to color and do this SAFELY, you can also dabb color onto the rest of the electrical outlet:

I'm much happier now with these covers than those stark white ones on my walls!  I hope you'll try one of these methods I've covered today with your Copic Various Ink Refills and discover they can be used for more than just refilling your Copic markers!
   

Comments

[mary]

Sharon, both of your projects are completely breath taking. I love using my supplies "outside the box" and will definitely be trying these techniques. Thanks a million for the fab tutorials, I know they are very time consuming.

[Susan (rainy)]

Get out!! How FABULOUS! The tag is absolutely gorgeous and the outlet cover is total genius!!! What a wonderful post and beautiful projects, Sharon.

[Kathyc on SCS]

Hi Sharon, I LOVE your Sugar and Spice tag! Thanks for all the details; the outlet cover is awesome too!

[Shirley N]

This is so neat, TFS Sharon!!!

[June]

WOW these are great projects!!!!! I will definitely have to try these!!! Thanks for the idea on the outlet cover!!!!

[Shannan Teubner]

So cool, Sharon!! I love what you did with the outlet cover!