Gab about COPIC Ciao Markers Refills

Hello and welcome to another crafty chat on my blog. Today I’m talking about ways to get more life out of your Copic Markers; my Copic of choice is usually a Ciao marker. I chose Ciaos because the come in 180 colors at a lower price point than the Sketch version. Quite frankly, those are enough colors for me and it allowed me to buy more colors when I was starting out. Ink refills are available for all of the Ciao colors as well as replacement Super Brush Nibs. But how to refill them?

You will need:

-Your dried out markers

-Matching refills

-A gram scale

-Some patience  

To check all of my markers (approximately 105) and refill the ones in need (approximately 10) it took me about 1.5 hours.

I found many videos on the Sketch markers, but not much on Ciaos. The technique is the same, but the amount of ink needed varies. For a new Ciao, I weighed it with the caps on and found it to be between 10-11 grams. 

I then weighed a marker I knew was drying out and got a weight of 8-9g. I put those to the side and then weighed my refill with the cap off, a full refill weighs about 26g with no cap.

Next, I removed my chisel nib from my marker and added 10-15 drops and the reweighed my refill, as the value decreased, I knew how many grams were transferred to my marker. I continued until I had added 2g to each dried out marker or brought the weight back up to 10g. A word of caution, 11g proved to be too much ink for my markers and I had to do some coloring on a scratch pad to run off the excess, I would stay as close to 10g as possible so you do not waste ink.

I also noted the markers that weighed in at 9g so I would know which refills I need to pick up soon! 

I hope this tutorial was helpful for any other Ciao artists out there, until next time, stay safe in these crafting streets! 

Happy crafting,

Gaby

Gab about Lawnfawnatics - Wonderful Winter

Hi everyone! Anyone who reads my blog knows I’m a longtime Lawn Fawn fan. I finally decided to try one of the challenges. This time it’s Wonderful Winter, so I used the Winter Skies set, my Copic Ciaos, and some tips from Sandy Allnock in this amazing video.  I might try this again with a pastel winter sky or maybe a fall sky/background.  Take a look at Sandy’s channel for a ton of coloring tips for Copics, Watercolor, and Colored Pencils. 

I have linked* to the stamps and dies below below and until next time, be safe in these crafting streets.

Lawn Fawn Stamp Sets

Lawn Fawn Die Sets

Copic Markers

Happy Crafting,

Gaby

*Affiliate links

Gab about Etsy

Hi there! So sorry I have been away, I was super bogged down with regular, but things have slowed down now and I have decided to reopen my Etsy shop. I think there is such a huge benefit to starting there because you have a built in audience; people who come there are already looking for handmade things. I have been updating items over there pretty regularly and will be getting back to blogging as well, starting with a post about the Tim Holtz Glass Media May which should be arriving at my house tomorrow! 

Be safe in these crafting streets! 

Happy crafting! 

-Gaby

Sewing Clear Pouches (Easy)

Hi everyone! I have been doing some sewing lately to keep in line with my resolution for crafting this year and I came across this amazing pattern for making clear pouches. I was on Pinterest and found this great pattern with some great pictures and easy to follow instructions.  I was able to cut a bunch of these out and then sew them very quickly. I used ribbon for some of them, but eventually opted to just use the fabric and switch up the sewing order to assemble them faster. 

Zelda fabric! 

Chococat everything! 

Hiw cute are these birds?

Harry Potter fabric. 

Zelda fabric again.  

If you have some cute fabric that you have been wanting to use, this pattern is great because the size is perfect for a travel makeup bag, pencil case, or toiletry bag.  As you can see with the photos above, I got carried away and made several. If you are going to do any embroidery like I did, cut your fabric first and then just center the design in your hoop.

Hey Mickey! 

These will hold brush markers and colored pencils! 

These are easy to mass produce and a little less intimidating if you want to make bags, but you are not super confident in your zipper installation capabilities (no shame, I'm just saying). Thanks for stopping by, until next time, happy crafting.

-Gaby