Distress Oxide Inks Are Addictive Fun

So, I got four of the new Tim Holtz Oxide Inks—Faded Jeans, Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick and Fossilized Amber—and I'm addicted! I tried a class with them recently and had already ordered my colors or I would've added Broken China and Wilted Violet. We used all of them in class and, although I wasn't too fond of the browns, I liked the pastels a lot!

Here's a panel we made in class. We used a textured watercolor paper and I would have to say that watercolor paper isn't exactly the best paper to use with the Oxides. They soak into the paper too quickly to react with heat or water or the other colors. It's pretty, but I think Distress Inks would be about the same as far as technique. I added doodles in black, white gel pen and pink chalk pen. This is the Wilted Violet and Broken China with a smidge of the Worn Lipstick.

We did this one in class too, with different colors. I added doodled in black and white pens and then used some Duo adhesive (it stays sticky) to add foil accents. You can see them better in the close-up pic.

Lastly, in this pic, you can see the difference in the papers. In the left piece, I've used the textured watercolor paper and on the right, a slightly coated piece of printer paper. The ink blends well on a good quality cardstock (Neenah Solar White) and on the Tim Holtz Mixed Media paper, as well as on the slightly shiny/smooth paper I've used here. The ink does wipe off a little the shinier or slicker the paper. We used Yupo (great for alcohol inks) and the Oxides never dried to the paper and the chalky texture of the inks rubbed off later. So, there is a happy medium for these inks. I used Bristol paper and that went well too.

I used the same colors and stencils on these two examples—the only difference is the paper. I went back after the paper dried to add Distress Inks as paint to the white stenciled areas on right and the inks played well together.

Have you tried the Oxide Inks yet? What do you think?

Happy Monday!
Chark