Memento Versus Brilliance Ink With Copic Markers

Copic markers come in over 300 beautiful colors. They are versatile in their application techniques: Direct to paper, airbrush, refills for backgrounds, etc.  They are ethanol based and are safe to use on scrapbook layouts.  There are a wide variety of materials that they can be used on - porous and non-porous surfaces alike.  However, the types of papers and inks that they work best upon is the main question that most beginners have before they start exploring all of the other fabulous things you can do with them.

Today, I wanted to show how two of the inks that are recommended by Copic compare with each other.  Why would you prefer one to the other and do you need both?   This is my personal opinion and not endorsed by Copic, by the way. :-)

Heavenly White Ultrasmooth #120 Cardstock

Assessing what kinds of images you use may be the biggest determining factor in what type of ink you prefer.  The images posted above were made from a very fine line acrylic stamp set. If your images are more dense or have a bulkier presence, than either ink will stamp equally well for you.  Your area of interest may then just be whether the ink will hold up to coloring with Copic markers and whether heat setting your images is something you want to do.

As you can see, the Memento ink, on the left, gave a thicker and darker impression than the Brilliance.  There is more observable detail with the Brilliance ink.  Memento is fast drying, but you do want to make sure it is dry before coloring.  Give the ink a chance to be absorbed by the paper.  Brilliance, on the other hand, requires heat setting. If you plan ahead, you can stamp your images in advance and let them dry overnight with comparable results.

Copics R81, R83, and Y15

 The flower on the left was colored by crossing over the black ink with the marker.  I was very careful to not use the light pink (R81) on the stamped ink on the right.  There was no bleeding on either of the images.  The photo below shows those same flowers plus a smaller flower that had been colored at full size and cut down.  This one was stamped with the Brilliance ink and heat set at the same time as the others. However, you will notice that the black ink smeared and bled and really doesn't look very nice in comparison to the other two.  The only difference was that I colored over the black stamped image with the R81 marker.  Is this typical, you may wonder?  I do not know. It happens to me frequently, though!  Your climate may play a part in how much moisture is in your paper.  How old the paper is can also affect the results because of moisture content.

So, because I have experienced this on more than one occasion, I usually do not color Over stamped lines.  Yes, it takes longer.  But so does starting over. :-)

You may wonder why I used the image anyway since I was clearly not happy with it?  Because I wanted to show that even though it was messed up, it was still salvageable.  By cutting the image smaller, it gave it less importance.  Also, by having a lot of texture on the card, the eye doesn't stop too long at that spot.

Spica Pens (Set B) Provide a Little Glitz To the Flowers

So do you need both inks?  Only you know the answer to that!  :-)  However, I hope that this has provided you with enough information to know whether or not you want to try these inks, if you haven't already.

Tomorrow's post is also about Copic Markers.  It involves some inks that are on the 'not recommended' list. Please stop by and see the results of my little experiment with eight inks and Copic markers.

Thank you for visiting today!

Beverly

The additional supplies used on the card are as follows:

Stamps: Flower and leaves are from the CTMH Card Word Puzzle set 

  Sentiment is from the CTMH Say It In Style set

Cardstock: Card base and sentiment tag are CTMH White Daisy

  CTMH Baby Pink punched with Martha Stewart Doily Lace edge punch

Velvet paper (from my stash) embossed with script folder from Hobby Lobby's in-house brand

Gingham pattern paper: Making Memories

Butterflies were made with Martha Stewart mold and clay, white one was painted with Create-a-Shade

Lace: Martha Stewart

Polka Dot Ribbon: CTMH (retired)

Tiny Pearls are CTHM Bitty Opaque Adhesive Gems