Copic Chatter
 

I am just beginning to use these markers and just love them! I haven't been obsessed about a product since, well, since I discovered stamping. :)

I know that there are tons of threads on here about Copic markers but I thought it would be fun to have a "Copic Chatter" like there is a "Cricut Chatter".

So let's talk about the Best place to buy, Best Inkpad, Best Cardstock your most used Colors, Storage ideas, your tried and true tips and share your creations!

Okay, I'll start. :)

I have found that the Memento Ink works great with the PTI white cardstock that I use.

I would like to try Palette Noir ink next to see if the images are crisper.

I would also like to try Gina K's Luxury Cardstock. I heard it's wonderful for Copics.

Right now I only own about a dozen Sketch markers so they just sit on my table. I'd love to get the Making Memories lazy susan for them. But I'm afraid they would look so sparse and lonely that I would have to go out and buy a huge set. And my credit card can't handle that right now. ;)

I just got a pack of the Gina K card stock, so I will make a mental note to try it for the copics.
I had only been able to purchase what my local Hobby Lobby had for markers, but over Xmas, I persuaded my DH to take me to a Dick Blick store in Chicago. It was my forst time seeing a full display, but now I know that they arre available there, I will be able to occasionally check out some of the colors in person. I now have 39.... and counting.

I use Papertrey white card stock and Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

A great tip I got from someone here (sorry I can't remember who) was to use Versafine Onyx Black ink and detail CLEAR EP to help from going outside the lines when coloring. It works very well and it looks really pretty!

** For some reason (I do not know why), it is the metallic EP that causes problems but not the CLEAR!

I am storing mine HORIZONTALLY because I read here that someone is having a problem with one end drying out. I am not taking any chances. These "babies" are just too expensive to fool around with! LOL!

www.oozak.com has GOT to be the ABSOLUTE BEST source for purchasing Copics. They have the cheapest prices I have found, the shipping is so fast that is amazing! They so very nice to deal with. My computer would not allow me to check out on the site ( even the guy from oozak did not know why and he talked me throught the steps and it still didn't work!), so he took my order over the phone. He told me it would ship that same day and it got to my home in 1 day! They are in Michigan and I am in NJ!

*True, I know they sell out FAST with many colors but if you can get them, they are worth buying at Oozak.

*** PLUS, FREE shipping with a $50 order!!:-D

Well that's interesting. I used to store mine horizontally, but then switched to vertically, and since then I have had a problem with two of mine drying up. Guess I should go back to horizontal storage.

...slight hijack...just noticed on the oozak site that marker prices are going up the first of the year...????...don't know if other companies will do that or not...sale on ellen hutson today that brings her individual markers very close to the oozak price...i think it is 20% off everything...

I really do not understand why they would dry out because there seem to be tons of people that store them vertically.:confused: Whenever I see a picture of someone's craft room or pictures on a blog where they show what colors they used on the card, the COPICS are always shown vertically.

But, like I said, (lol!) I am not taking any chances. I want them to last as long as possible!:-D

Yes, I believe it is going up all over because it says that the US IMPORTER is raising the price. So I guess the stores have no choice but to pass the increase on to the customer.:confused: I "think" that's how it works, I am certainly not an economics person! LOL! But my hubby wishes I were!!Hehehe!:-D

Dick Blick
 

Oooh, you are by me! In case you did not know this, if you go to "store locations" on the Dick Blick website, it will let you sign up for email, and they email % off coupons occassionally. They are usually 30% off, but I recently got a 40% off. You can print multiples and you and your hubby can each purchase with a coupon at the North Ave store, and you can run up while he illegally waits downstairs (parking is a loser) in the Loop store. Over the course of a weekend, one can amass quite a few 40% off markers. Hypothetically, of course. :rolleyes: It is a great deal, even with our terrible tax, and depending on the direction you are coming from, there are suburban stores to add in as well.

If you are a teacher or student, you also get their membership free (normally $10/year). This also gets you coupons and 10% off full price purchases. I personally do not think it's worth the $10 (since I prefer waiting to use the 30% or 40% off coupons), but I teach so get it for free, and am happy to use the coupons when they send them! I started with the Dick Blick custom manga set of 24, which IMO is a nice set as sets go, esp if you can get it with a coupon.

Say hi if you make another trip down here. If there's a coupon, I will doubtless be there, Copic color chart in hand. LOVE Dick Blick!!

Ohh...it would be fun if there was a *STICKY* Copic thread...I see tons of the same questions over and over...and I actually had a question myself today and couldn't find the answer on the ilikemarkers blog.

I also use Memento Ink and PTI paper...it's my favorite combo, though I have had good luck with Brilliance too, and even SU Basic Gray Ink works fine if I am careful and don't go over any lines. I have gotten a few images on swaps that were not PTI CS and they colored ok, but I notice that the colors are a bit muted on thin paper.

I have about 130 markers now, and a list of about a dozen more that I have been waiting to come in stock, and at this point I think I am about done. I have all the shades I love, and possibly may find that I need one or two down the road, but my collection seems to be just about perfect for what I do.

I tried a 2nd Making Memories Carousel (Susan...) and really hated it for my markers...they fell over in the larger spaces and it was too high to see the ends to choose colors when I was sitting at the table. I returned it and went with a Magpie cubby unit on the wall. I have a jar where I add what colors I am using and set that on the table...I am short on work space as it is, so this works better! :)

On a side note...Ellen Hutson's has copics for $4 with the 20% off code...COUNTLESS Still not the colors I am waiting for though. I usually buy from creativeplaystamps.com since they carry a lot of other items I use and free shipping over $50 with a freebie thrown in is GREAT!! I love Oozak, but they are always out of stock. :(

Now for my question...

Are Copic Original and Sketch nibs interchangeable?? I would love to swap out my broad tips for fine round tips.

No, apparently, the original nibs won't fit sketch markers. So the closest you can get is the medium round, but that is not what you wanted...

See http://www.copicmarker.com/nibs_sketch.html

And wow, what a collection! I'm in the mid-40s so again, wow! Would love to know what your desert island favorites are.

Do you think I could write with that end? It seems kind of Crayola Marker Big...LOL

And I tend to do softer more rustic colors...so if you have a style like mine you might like the same basics as me...these are the ones I almost always pull out:

Pink-red: R20-29 and R37

Blues: BG72 and B91-97 (Love the B40's also...but they don't get as much use)

Earth Skin Browns: E00, E30's, E41, E70's

Yellow: YR21 and Y35

Orange: YR65 and YR68

Pale Shadows (water etc): C-1, C-3, B000, BG000, B60

Lavendar: B20's

Green: G20's and YG63

I'd like to join in and second the Oozak.com plug!! I just ordered my first set of Copics from them last week - my order is due to arrive tomorrow, I CANNOT WAIT!!

I wasn't ever going to splurge on these...I even put my year end bonus towards bills - but then I got a $500 AMEX Gift Card from work on top of the bonus, and I thought - WHAT THE HECK! Copics it is! :mrgreen::mrgreen:

I will say though, that I did not order an official set. What I did was used the "gotta have them all" color set on Ellen Hutson, and used that as a baseline for what colors I will most likely need. I was able to get 75 of these (the rest were out of stock on Oozak.com) The reason I did it this way, is that it was way cheaper to use Oozak.com to pick the markers invidiually ($3.90 per marker) than it was to pay the $450+ that Ellen Hutson was pricing. (although you do get a free case from EH, so I suppose that might be attractive to some)

Anyhoo - I am really psyched to get my new Copics. I can't wait to try 'em out and let you know how they work!:-D

OH! one more tip, I used this blog as a reference for "Favorite Copic Color Combos" - you will see them listed on the left hand column of her blog:

http://www.debbiedesigns.typepad.com/

HTH!

I also use momento black and PTI! In my experience Pallette should be heat set! I have purchased 90 % of my 200 copic sketch from carpediemstore.com They are always in stock and at $3.95 per marker the prive can not be beat. Shipping is a bit high but still well worth it they are also very fast. They are in califonia and I am arizona so I get them faster than others. I plan on ordering the remaining 128 colors I want and an air brush system.

Great idea to put a sticky on this thread! I keep going into a search for copics everytime have a question. I am ready to place another order today (these things are addictive!!!) but oozak is sold out of almost all of their colors.

Thanks for the notice! I was going to wait for my birthday (2/1) to order, but will do it earlier now!

I just ordered 25 from MerriArtist and they were all in stock. They are $4.46 per marker (sketch) and anything over $90 is free shipping. I've bought most of mine from there and they have top notch service and ship within a day.

if you pay close attention to when they are arriving with new shipments, you might be able to time it just right - that's what I did last week. They received an order on 12/23 around noon EST and I hopped on there & grabbed all the ones I needed! I even called Customer Service and they were great about letting me know when the order arrived.

I would suggest checking www.carpediemstore.com at $3.95 each they are the least expensive when it comes to the sketch. I have had nothing but great service! I have made several orders and they have always been in stock!

How do we go about asking (begging? LOL!) to have it made into a "STICKY?"

I barely know what it means but I guess it is sort of like the first "turn to" source for information?

I store mine vertical in a Making Memories lazy susan. I haven't had any problems.;)

I can't see that storing them vertical would hurt anything considering Copic sells the sets IN VERTICAL STORAGE. They have more and have had them longer than any of us, so I trust their advice which states that it doesn't matter which way you store them. :D

Well, reading this thread, I just went to oozark and placed my first order. Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I kept reading about the Copics and have decided to take the plundge and ordered myself some. Now I'll just have to figure out how to use them LOL

Thanks for the site.....that is the best price I have seen.

Rain

Ok...not sure if this will help anyone...since all computer screens are different. But here is the color-in chart that I use for my markers...I haven't updated it yet with my last order, but if it works...I can redo the photo with the rest of them.

The online swatches are HORRIBLY OFF on many colors...and I bought quite a few colors based on recommendations of others thinking they would just be WRONG when I saw the swatch in my shopping cart...but they got here and were perfect! So in person, these colors do look different!

Hopefully if you have a few of the same colors as I do, you can get a good idea of what you want next...and what you don't!

This chart was printed on PTI CS...on geogia pacific CS the colors looked a bit more grayed-out.

A nice thing to know is: You don't need all 322 Sketch colors EVER. Many are nearly identical to each other. Check out the library at copicmarker.com and click on color wheel to see which ones. (This chart is there too) I printed that wheel and checked off what I have, so that when I order more, I don't buy one right next to one I already have, as the one I have can be used instead.

Hope this helps!

I thought so too but what was odd for me is that I stored them with the brush tip down. When I went to use the broad end it was dry. Then while using the brush tip it started to dry up. I thought maybe I had bought a dud from HL, like someone had used it and returned it. But then another one of my Sketch markers is doing the same exact thing! The rest of mine (all 10 of them :rolleyes: ) seem to be okay though....

Cher, I am super jealous of all those copics you have!!!

Okay, so I have read Michelle's blog ilikemarkers.com but I am still having trouble apply some techniques. Like the shading technique. I just can't seem to like how it turns out. Does anyone have any tips that worked for them when they first began?

I say practice with ONE marker.

It really helped when I started shading with the same marker that I color it in with. For me it was like a *click* and I just got it after doing that for a while first.

Thanks Cher. Do you ever shade using a gray color?

Wow! That was lucky! I just got on that site & they only have 6 that I want. I'll try again before the 5th when prices go up.

I'm starting to get really confused on which way to store them. They say it doesn't matter which way, but why are some people having the "drying up" problem then? How about everyone lists how they store theirs and we kind of poll it? I do it vertically...............

Horizontally just because I'm chicken.:-D LOL! If it says "marker", it automatically goes horizontal at my house. LOL! But I do know that they say it is OK to store them vertically.

What can I say! Old habits die hard and besides, this way they can go in a box and then in a drawer-AWAY FROM THE CATS!!!!!!! LOL!:mrgreen:

Horizontally, I use the 4 section cubes from Office Max. I have 4 cubes and can divide out all of my color families this way. I'm so used to storing my SU markers horizontally that this just makes sense to me to do the same.

wow, this is GREAT!!! THANK YOU!!!

yea, there are about 23 or so more that weren't in stock so I wasn't able to get those...I'm patiently waiting :-D

but I was luckily able to time it just right on 12/23 when they recieved a BIG shipment, and got about 75 of the markers that I wanted. If you purchase over $50 you get free shipping...which to me is worth it. I will try & get each order from them over $50 in the future. I hate paying shipping!!

Arlene, I use the four-section cubes from Office Max, too. Look at it this way, they are not easily countable... kwim? Hee... But I am too chicken to store them vertically, too. Too much money to take chances...

ooh nice idea for a thread! I'll read through it later tonight. I just added another $100+ worth of markers to my collection. eek.

LOL

it's dangerous!!

and I totally agree that we need to make this a "sticky" - that way people can read it instead of always starting new Copic threads. Who do we have to harass to get this request considered? ;);)

I only have Ciaos and wonder if anyone has ever seen a color chart that just has the colors that Ciaos come in????????

I'm loving this thread! Here is the chart from Sharon Harnist's blog. There is a little "C" next to the Ciao colors. You could edit it to remove the other stuff-- I edited it to make it fit on a single page as that worked well for my needs.

http://paperfections.typepad.com/pap...color-cha.html

HTH!