Color Me Happy Monday! {Using the Chameleon Pens}
I love to color! Adult coloring is becoming a new crafting craze but I've been coloring for years. Well, for my crafts at least. I've always loved to color. A big new box of 64 Crayon crayolas was my favorite thing about going back to school as a kid. I'd save up my money all summer to make sure I would be able to buy the big box! As many of you know, I have a LOT of Copic alcohol markers and that's been my coloring medium for my cards for a number of years now. I love my Copics and I am Copic certifified to teach Copic coloring classes. But there are so many different color tones and shades of the Copic and my box is HUGE filled with them that now and then it seems a chore to get them out to color. And then you have to decide WHAT color and color tones you want to use. To get the blending affect shown above you use three different pens in the same color tone. But I colored the above image with just 6 different pens rather than 18! I still love to use my Copics; however I'm loving my Chameleon pens just as much!
I first saw the Chameleon pens (these are alcohol ink as well and can be used with the Copics) at Flossie Scrapper in Burleson/Joshua, Texas. I was intrigued with the concept and bought about 5 or 6 pens and played with them at home. The next time I was at the store I bought more. I now have the whole set as there are only 22 pens TOTAL (20 color, one black and one blending pen) for the whole collection. They may be adding more in the near future. Now I like that I can pick up 22 pens and carry them downstairs into the dining room, living room or office to color!
The image above is a bit washed out on the white paper pad that I colored it on. Here's another look at it showcased on some aqua colored paper.
I just love how her hair turned out with ONE pen! I often struggle to get the hair shading the way I like it but with the dark yellow Chameleon pen it was easy peasy! I will be using this image on a Cards in Envy challenge card in a few weeks, so you'll see it again.
I also colored a few more images and love how all of those turned out. I love coloring flowers! Look how pretty that red poppy turned out with one red pen and one yellow pen. Same with the purple flowers--only one purple pen to get the light and deeper coloring on the flower petals.
In the photo below, I've opened up the pen (it comes with a brush nib end and a pen writing type nib on one end and a toning medium chamber on the other end.) On the left in the photo is the brush end and on the right is the chamber. You put the pen brush end into the chamber and hold it upright for a few seconds or more depending on how light you want the color to start out. Then you start coloring the light area first moving over to the darker as the color returns to the pen. This took me some getting used to as with Copics you generally color dark to light.
I know some experienced Copic color enthusiasts have said that they don't like the waiting a few seconds for the pen to lighten. But it doesn't bother me. I feel it's just as fast as removing the caps and switching to two other pens. Just a technique preference I would say. For me, while I wait the few seconds for the pen to lighten, I take the time to look at my image and see what I need to correct or add more color to etc. Coloring is relaxing. So having a few seconds to look at it is fine with me.
And now the biggest plus for these pens especially for those who don't want to invest in to so many Copics. (Yes, I almost have them all but I don't ever use them all. I'm sure there are certain pens I've NEVER used!! And after a few years they do start to dry up. I know I have some I've used a lot that I've had to add ink to and then I have those I haven't used much and they now need ink.) So for less money, you can invest in alcohol ink markers (only need 22 to have the full set) AND they are also refillable AND you can replace the nibs as needed. AND you can get the pens at Flossie Scrapper in Burleson/Joshua, Texas. Buy you two or three and give them a try. Or if I'm going to be at the store, I'd be happy to bring mine for you to try out! Just let me know if you are going to be there on a Saturday and if I'm planning to drop in I'll be sure to bring my pens and an image or two.
I'm definitely coloring myself happy with these pens! Do you like to color? What is your favorite coloring medium and have you tried the Chameleons yet?
Happy Crafting!
UPDATE: After having the Chameleon Pens for about a year, I found that I was mostly using my Copic markers which are my favorite alcohol coloring pens. I sold my Chameleons as I just wasn't using them enough. They are still great pens but for me the charging of the nibs to get lighter colors as too time consuming.
