Today I am using Copic Various Inks (Alcohol Inks) to colour an unusual material and create a unique and vibrant Copic coloured poppy canvas - it's just a bit of fun today.  What's the unusual material?  Empty Soft drink/Soda/Pop cans, though you could use thin metal sheets or even metal coated cardstock if you have any.

TECHNIQUE

Using X-Press It Triple Tac Glue (or other matt glue) adhere some pretty soft coloured FabScraps papers onto your canvas.  You may like to overlap the papers or add torn elements as I have on mine.  Wait for the adhesive to dry and then lightly brush Gesso over the surface, use a baby wipe to rub back any areas that become too heavily covered or hard to see.  This helps the background to appear more unified and softens any edges. 

Flick a few droplets of Lindy's Stamp Gang Down the Rabbit Hole or Gag Me With a Spoon Grey sprays over the surface and dry with a heat gun to create distinct spots of colour. 

While waiting for your canvas to dry, use some heavy duty scissors to pierce the EMPTY soft drink can (any brand of can will work for this) and carefully cut off the top and bottom - don't bother trying to flatten the metal, it will curl right back up!   PLEASE be careful the cut metal can be quite sharp.

Use your scissors to cut a variety of sizes and shapes for your flowers - depending on the size of your canvas you may need to cut out larger flowers than I have.  If you are a bit of a perfectionist you can also use metal dies to cut your flowers out.  I just started cutting, aiming to create random, sort-of poppy-like shapes.  Once you have enough flowers cut, lay the pieces onto your canvas to confirm you have an appropriate number/size. Then use something with a rounded end (I used a ball tool) and something with a sharp end (I used a paper clip), flip the flowers over (so you are pressing into the side with the drink label) and create impressions to hint at petals and flower centres.  Don't worry about being too precise, part of the charm is the rustic look.

Next colour the flowers, you will need a selection of Copic Various Inks (BV04, V06, RV19 & YG07) or any alcohol inks and some Colorless Blender.  Drip the inks onto the metal flowers and then add a drop of blender to the center of each flower.  You can also spray a little blender to create patterns.  I kept adding colour and blender until happy with the look of each flower.  If you have a Ranger/Tim Holtz felt applicator tool you can also use that to add colour or blender.

TIP

• Any more than 3-4 colours and your flowers may end up looking muddy, so restrain yourself :)

Add colour and blender until you have colours and patterns you like.  Try to make sure each flower is just a little different, so that your finished canvas has some interesting things to look at.  To make the flowers a little more special try adding beads, glitter, mica etc to the flower centers.

To complete your project fold and shape a small piece of card into a rough vase, make sure there is a little 3d shape to this you don't want it sitting flat on the canvas.  I coloured mine using the same sprays that I used to add the droplets to my background, just so I wasn't adding any extra colours.  By keeping everything except the flowers to neutral tones, the flowers stand out more.

Stick the flowers onto your canvas using foam tape and then tuck green cord under each flower and into the vase as stems.  Make sure some of the cords stick to the vase and some to the canvas to make it look more life like and less flat.

 I added a few little touches of gold paint to the background to finish off this fairly quick and fun little project.

I love how the metal from the soft drink/soda cans adds an almost jewel like quality to the inks.  I can't quite decide if I love or loathe the fact that the alcohol inks react so quickly.  You can see the most amazing patterns appear and disappear within seconds - there were times I sat there saying STOP STOP as the most amazing colours and patterns appeared - but it's all so random and it stops when it wants to!

SUPPLIES

• Copic Various Inks: BV04, V06, RV19 & YG07  you can also use any other brand of alcohol ink
• Copic Colorless Blender
• X-Press It: Clear Gel Glue, Triple Tac Glue & Foam High Tack Tape
• X-Press It Acid Free Canvas
• X-Press It Glitter - Onyx
• FabScraps Papers: Concrete Chic & Concrete Chic 2
• FabScraps Stencil: Square Stripes
• Chromacryl Gesso Primer
• Art Ingredients Glass Beads - Zinc
• Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint - Gold

This would be a great project to do with the kids over the holidays or even create as a present, quick, fun and unique!