For a year now I have been seeing all the beautiful
distress ink backgrounds on Facebook.
I decided it was a time to give it a try.
I still have a long way to go,
but here is what I did.
(The colors in this first photo are more true
to the actual colors than what you see in the
photos below. I have no idea why. Sorry.)
Supplies are minimal.
Ranger carries a line of
Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads,
and the blending tool to spread them with.
Both are inexpensive and you can get them
at pretty much any craft store.
Mine came from Michael's.
I used some sheets of 4" x 6" paper
that I already had cut.
Hot pressed mixed media paper - I think.
For the first piece, I just pulled the ink pads
across the surface of the paper.
Rubbed them back and forth.
I didn't like the white splotchy areas.
At all.
This time I used the blending tool.
Seriously, it is as simple as dabbing the
tool onto the ink pad and picking up the color.
Then I just rubbed it in circles on the paper.
I concentrated on full coverage -
no white splotchies -
and tried to blend the colors into each other.
I liked this one much better!
So I just kept on trying that technique.
Circular motion, rubbing the color gently into
the paper, and blend the edges.
This one worked much better,
though I like the colors in the one before it more.
I think I got better at blending as I
went along. A lot of success in blending
depends on the colors you choose.
It's worth persevering - try tapping the inkpad onto the craft sheet then placing your blending tool into that ink & start the circular motion on the mat moving towards the tile/paper & then just carry on swirling, that way you should get more even coverage of the ink. Difficult to explain in words........ Distress inks are wonderful to work with but take a bit of getting used to. My ink pads & reinkers are hiding in one of the kitchen cupboards until I can start tangling & playing again............. tempting.............. Love the fact that you detail so clearly what you are doing & the pitfalls. Thank you.
ReplyDelete