The danger in cleaning Copics

The last Iron Artist made me realized that most of my purple and light blue markers were running dry. I'd also been putting off cleaning and maintaining the Copics which was leading to dried ink building up in the caps and making opening and closing the markers difficult. So, I decided to spend yesterday afternoon doing some marker maintenance with the plan of working on the next Iron Artist in the evening.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out as planned.

Turns out my purples had this odd, white band on the tips which seemed to be obstructing the ink flow.




After looking around various Copic blogs on the net, I found a few people who said soaking the tips in rubbing alcohol can help dislodge dried ink and restore the flow. Since new tips cost money and involve either a trip up to Boston or a wait for them to arrive through the mail, I figured it was worth a try.

So, I grabbed my BV25s and using the tweezers popped the tip out...




...and plopped them into the acid... I mean the rubbing alcohol.




A short soak seemed to dislodge most of the ink and remove the odd, white band. Next came a quick removal from the fluid, drying, and sitting before putting them back into the marker.

I did the trick with another of the blue violets which worked out okay. And one tip I just outright replaced because it was too damaged.

Unfortunately, when refilling my BV23s, I cracked the cases. One so badly I had to toss it immediately - it broke down to the well. My hand was completely covered in purple ink. The second one here I tried to keep since the crack didn't seem as bad and I use this color for most of my shading.




Unfortunately, it kept leaking ink. So, it also ended up in the trash. At Matt's prompting we took a trip into Boston to hit the art store and didn't get back until late. And, I've spent the morning so far finishing the cleaning and refilling process. Ugh, I feel so sick from smelling rubbing alcohol for the last few hours.

All of which means I'm running behind. I apologize for the delay. I'll have the next Iron Artist done this evening. Sorry again.


"Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right."
-- Jack Canfield