Playing with DISTRESS OXIDE inks
Since this COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have had more time at home. Since youtube contains a multitude of how-to videos, I decided to venture into the world of distress inks, distress oxide inks, and alcohol inks. I thought it was time to stretch my pallet a bit!
I experimented on both watercolor paper and smooth white paper. I found the watercolor paper gives the ink more play and movement and worked best with stencils. Particularly if you wanted to lay the stencil on top of the applied ink and rub off with a damp cloth. The smooth white worked nicely too, but not as much for using a stencil and wiping. I found if I got the smooth white too wet and applied pressure that it rubbed off a little of the paper.
The oxide inks on the above card were applied with the Ranger ink blending foam pads. Then spritzed with water. I stamped the flower from the Tim Holtz set "flower garden" in memento ink, over the oxide inks and added a little more color to the flower with alcohol ink markers. I stamped a background image over the top of the card by inking selected areas in a gray. Added a little texture paste over a dotted stencil, and removed a little ink with the same stencil and a wet paper towel. I used a small bottle cap and dipped in the texture paste mixed with gesso for the round circle.
I also applied the distress oxide inks to the background on this card with the Ranger ink blending foam pads. Then used an aspen tree background stencil to remove some of the ink with a damp paper towel. Stamped the flower in memento black, then added color with alcohol ink markers. Stamped the water drops and music notes. Used a small paint brush dipped in water to remove a little of the color on the water drops, and added white with a gel pen to the top of the water drops.
As you can see, I've had a lot of "social distancing". The results of the inks are never the same! Most of the above samples were the distress oxide inks. The hello you card with the rainbow of green yellow, orange and red was using just distress inks. I smooshed the inks on the ranger ink craft sheet, spritzed with water, and then applied my watercolor cardstock directly on top of the ink. I made 4 cards with the same ink on the craft mat and they all turned out slightly different.
This was one of my favorite cards. I used salty ocean, candied apple, and squeezed lemonade oxide inks. By applying the blue in one corner, the red in the other, and then yellow in the middle and blending outward, it created the rainbow effect. I spritzed a large floral background stamp with water and held the stamp on the image for a minute to remove some of the ink. Then stamped the image on top and color with alcohol markers and added white gel pen in for highlights. Stamped a script stamp in a few small areas.
