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Has Anyone Tried American Crafts Chromatix Marker Set? Are They Like Copics?
I saw a really good deal (at least I think that it's a good deal) on a set of 30 alcohol-based markers by American Crafts. I saw the set for $55 and that included shipping. I've been interested in learning to use Copics but I haven't been willing to invest the $$ in getting them because I feel like I'd need to buy a whole bunch to be able to make anything look decent.
So I guess my long-winded question is, has anyone tried the American Crafts version? The description/use sounds very similar to Copics and it claims that this set gives you enough to get started. I can't seem to find any reviews of them online so I thought that I'd check here to see if anyone had tried them.
The set is listed for $54.99 plus $5.90 to ship by Priority Mail. I found a coupon code for 10% off one item and that worked for me. It brought the price down to $53.39 and that included shipping. The coupon code is: csemail
I'll try to remember to come back and give you an update on how I like them once I get them and give them a try. But I'm still interested to hear from others who've tried them.
Thought that I'd post a quick update. I got my marker set today, I played with a couple of the colors and the markers seem to apply an even color (no brushstroke sort-of look that I get when I use my SU markers) throughout and they seem to blend well with the blender pen. I've only got Stampin Up paper and the markers seemed to work fine on the Very Vanilla scrap that I was coloring on. They did bleed through, but I didn't see any pilling or fuzzy stuff where I colored and blended. I didn't do a ton of coloring in any area, so I may have a different result when I try to color a larger image.
American Crafts doesn't have nearly the number of colors that you can find in Copic markers. It looks like they've got 15 color "groups" and each group has 3 shades. They label theirs so that people like me who are color and technique challenged can easily figure this out ...each color group has a #1, #2 & #3 marker (for example skin tone 1, skin tone 2, and skin tone 3). #1 is the lightest, #2 is medium and #3 is the darkest shade.
The 30 piece set that I bought has markers #1 and #3 in 13 of the color groups (bubblegum, rouge, flamingo, skin tones, grape, sapphire, marine, evergreen, grass, honeycomb, mango, apricot & chestnut). It also includes one stone (off-white), one black and 2 blender pens. Thought I'd post this info in case anyone else was wondering because I wasn't able to find the color list for the set anywhere online.
I have never tried Copics, so I can't really compare but I'm happy with the set so far. I'll try to play a little more in the next week or so and drop back with another update. I need to get my Memento ink pad and practice a bit before I post any examples.
I have a couple of sets and I think they worked well. I haven't played with them a whole lot, but I did like the way thy colored and thy blended pretty well. I liked the fact tht they were sold as a trio and bottom line, I would buy more.
I just bought this set! I was wonder the same things in your first questions. Thanks for the post! I'm totally Copic challenged and don't want to invest the $$ either but I do want to color just a little here and there! Thanks for the review!
I just bought this set! I was wonder the same things in your first questions. Thanks for the post! I'm totally Copic challenged and don't want to invest the $$ either but I do want to color just a little here and there! Thanks for the review!
Hi Amy! So, I got the markers and I LOVE them. They blend so nice (I'm a novice, so nice to me). BUT my ink is bleeding. I've used Memento, heat set it and my image bleeds big time. I tried Staz On too, it sort of bleeds but is MUCH better. What ink do you use?? Thanks in advance, Melissa
Hi Amy! So, I got the markers and I LOVE them. They blend so nice (I'm a novice, so nice to me). BUT my ink is bleeding. I've used Memento, heat set it and my image bleeds big time. I tried Staz On too, it sort of bleeds but is MUCH better. What ink do you use?? Thanks in advance, Melissa
I had good luck with Memento ink not bleeding. What type of paper are you using? I'm wondering if it's a paper issue. I know that some papers don't agree with the alcohol markers very well. So far I've only used Stampin' Up Whisper White paper with Memento ink. The markers have bled through the back of the paper for me, but I've never had problems with the images.
Don't know if it will help you, but here is a link to the Copic FAQ thread. There is a lot of information about how to use the markers and what types of ink and paper to use.
Thanks, Amy. After consulting with some twitter peeps, it was made clear that I was doing something wrong! LOL. Because I was using Memento and Neenah solar white paper (the ideal alcohol based coloring combo). Someone asked if the ink was dry and I said yes, I even heat set the darn ink! Well guess what? I wasn't heat setting the ink LONG enough! I just kept stamping and coloring and stamping and coloring and eventually the ink didn't bleed. Weird. I mean the ink needs to be really, really dry!
Thanks for your help! Oh, and I've heard from the Copic coloring people that the marker ink bleeding to the back of your paper means the colors are blending and you're doing it right!
Thanks, Amy. After consulting with some twitter peeps, it was made clear that I was doing something wrong! LOL. Because I was using Memento and Neenah solar white paper (the ideal alcohol based coloring combo). Someone asked if the ink was dry and I said yes, I even heat set the darn ink! Well guess what? I wasn't heat setting the ink LONG enough! I just kept stamping and coloring and stamping and coloring and eventually the ink didn't bleed. Weird. I mean the ink needs to be really, really dry!
Thanks for your help! Oh, and I've heard from the Copic coloring people that the marker ink bleeding to the back of your paper means the colors are blending and you're doing it right!
Cool! Glad to know that I was coloring the right way. And glad that you were able to get your markers to work the right way too! Have fun coloring!
I know this is an old thread - but in today's paper (12/1/13) there is an ad for Tuesday Morning, the 30 market set of Chromatix is $19.99 -- I plan to get a set to supplement the other alcohol markers I have.
I've never heard of these markers, I'll be anxious to see how you like them. I do have Copics but I agree they are an investment. I've tried the Spectrum Noir markers and I find they are to clumsy for me when I'm coloring with them, I guess I'm just used to the Copic markers, I also have a heck of a time getting the caps off of them, not sure if that's common or because they are new. Marge
I've never had trouble with Memento Black ink when I use Copic or Spectrum Noir, they do bleed thru cardstock that is until I tried some white Giina K 120 card stock it's really heavy and I've made single layer cards and nothing bleeds thu however I tried the 120 lb Ivory cardstock and that does bleed thru. I have trouble with paper pilling etc when I use Close to My Heart white or ivory cardstock but not the SU or Recollection card stocks. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong that makes it pill etc which could be because I'm new to alcohol markers too. Marge
Bought my set of 30 Chromatix alocohol markets at Tuesday Morning. Maybe that means they were really old already but 1/4 of them were already dry with others being somewhat dry. I bought a bottle of Isopropyl rubbing alcohol in the hopes of rejuvenating them, but that wasn't a great solution. Just pulled them out to work on a project and decided I need to bite the bullet and toss them.
Glad so many of you had a good experience with them!
Has Anyone Tried American Crafts Chromatix Marker Set? Are They Like Copics?
