Friday, November 9, 2007

Copics and Stampin Up pens


A friend of mine and I have this thing, we're now into Copic markers but don't have the burning need to purchase them for $5.89 each. So we use the Hobby Lobby 40% off coupons and buy them one by one. No lie, we actually buy them individually. Do you know how much self control that takes? I think she took all 4 of her kids to HL today since it was half day and had them each by one. I haven't called her yet but that was the plan. I got 4 today and that's just because I figured out that if I put both pens down, wait for the cashier to ring it up as 2 x $5.89 and then hand her my coupon she's not going through the effort of getting a manger to delete it back out, she'll just ring the whole total up at 40% off. Yeah, the fine art of coupons. Anyway, for the sake of figuring out whether or not I prefer the Copics (left Hanna) to the Stampin Up pens (right Hanna) I colored in 2 of the Hanna's I stamped previously. Now mind you SU pens are water based and Copics are alcohol based so it's almost like an apple and orange comparison but this is just for the sake of filling in images completely. I really like the effect I get when using SU pens as water color pens and moving the color around as you've seen in my previous posts. So it's not like I regret buying those suckers at all. That being said, after using them side by side for the exact same fill in project Copics win, hands down. You can't tell by my awful (as I've said before) coloring technique (must use kid's coloring books more) but it took me twice as long to do the SU coloring in as the Copics. The Copics have 2 nibs, both are fat. One is a square nib for big fill in stuff that I'll probably never do (I don't draw and all of my stamped images are card sized) and the other is just like the brush end of the SU markers only muuuch higher quality. You can use it to fill in little tiny spaces and it's soooo smooth. The SU pens I had to fill in the large spaces with the brush end but the tip of the brush is not stiff enough to get to the edges without going outside the lines. So I had to go back and use the fine tip end to do that part but the fine tip doesn't write as smooth so it kind of leaves lines. Not a big deal but kinda annoying. No one is going to be scrutinizing it close enough to make a difference so it's really neither here nor there but I'm still getting more Copics. They are sooo nice to color with!

SU colors used (Hanna on the right):
Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Real Red, Green Galore, Gable Green

Copic Colors used (Hanna on the left):
YG06 Yellowish Green, YG09 Lettuce Green, E00 Skin White, E37 Sepia, R29 Lipstick Red

The paper used is Georgia Pacific cardstock, 110lb and the black ink is StazOn. I'll need to get a different black to stamp with because Copics make the StazOn bleed.

2 comments:

Becky said...

Gotta love the copics!

I love comparisons so thanks!

Chris Scrappin and Stampin in Texas said...

Great comparison. I am just now starting to buy Copics. Yes, you have amazing will power, buying them one at a time. Problem is my Hobby Lobby usually does not have many, and people have tried them...therefore they are half empty..Great tutorial. Chris