Playing with Distress Inks

Although Distress Oxides are slowly replacing Distress Inks on the market, I've found that Distress Inks and their Reinkers have such a long life that they can go on being used for literally years.

I'll come to the differences between these two media, but first I will explore what happens when a Distress Ink Reinker of one color is added to a Distress Inkpad of a somewhat similar color.

To mix two blue shades of Distress Ink colors, I opened a Broken China Inkpad, then drizzled Tumbled Glass across its surface.

With a gloved fingertip, I then spread that drizzled reinker liquid evenly across the inkpad.  I allowed the ink to sink in for a few minutes, before loading my brush with the newly mixed inks.

Before using a mask with Distress Inks in the traditional way, I wanted to see what happens when plain white paper is placed atop a mask, then held in place with one hand (or masking tape), while a brush loaded with Distress Ink pounces firmly across the top side of the paper.  It's the same technique as dry rubbing, but instead of rubbing with a soft crayon to pick up the image under the paper, the approach is to use pouncing to do the job.  

Below:  I'm sliding my mask under a sheet of white copy paper, preparing to pounce across the top of the paper to pick up an image from the mask hidden underneath.

Carnival M340 is the mask I've used in this pouncing experiment ... and I've found that my results have "the painterly look" or the look of a "ghost print."

Above:  Because I never completely clean my brush between uses, there is usually a remnant-hint of the most recently used color that shows up the next time I use the brush.  In this case, there is a hint of Peeled Paint in the upper left.

Below:  A slightly different mix of Distress Ink colors created this pounced, ghostly image on watercolor canvas previously sprinkled with acrylic paint....

In the future, I plan to mix the yellow of Distress Ink Mustard Seed with my already-mixed blues, Distress Ink Broken China and Tumbled Glass.  I want to see what shade of green will emerge!

But for now, I'll show 3 Distress Ink prints that I made in the traditional way:  I placed the mask atop paper and, with assorted mixes of Distress Ink colors, pounced my brush over the mask.

The background papers above had come from old books and had previously served as "catch-all papers" coated with leftover acrylic paints.

Note:  To go with Distress Inks and Distress Oxides, RangerInk.com also makes a Distress Marker!

Thanks for checking out my blog today! To scroll thru the pages of my masks and stencils at StencilGirlProducts, please start here.

Anchoring today's post:  a link that gives a full explanation, with comparisons, between Distress Inks and Distress Oxides.