Tim Holtz is well known for creating wonderful altered art with a characteristic distressed look. Therefore it isn’t surprising that he came up with a line of products for Rangers Industries designed to help getting this one of a kind look.

On this post I am going to review Tim Holtz’s distress inks and foam blending tool.

Overview

The distress ink is an acid free dye ink with an agent that delays drying, which makes those inks more blendable.

The foam applicator is basically a tool with a wooden handle and interchangeable foam applicators, designed to absorb the distress ink and apply it moderately and with more control to the altered surface (paper, cardstock, chipboard, fabric etc.).

Using these tools together you can conquer the world create a special distressed look, tint photos and apply a color wash to porous surfaces.

I like

Pros

• Gorgeous colors. The designers at Ranger Industriess really did a great job at picking up the colors for the ink pads. They are absolutely beautiful.
• Compatibility. Ranger has an entire line of distress inks, paints and embossing powders and all the colors matches perfectly, which makes our life easy when coordinating colors on our projects.
• High quality. Those ink are really excellent. They are vibrant and won’t fade. When you apply the ink it appears to be very vibrant and gets more subtle once it’s dried. However, after the color is set, it stays there magnificently.
• Inexpensive. For their size, the ink pads are really inexpensive. The blending tool is also inexpensive if you have more than one ink pad, as the interchangeable applicators are coming in a pack of 10 (The basic handle comes with 2 applicators as well)!!!

Cons

• highly addictive. After you get a couple ink pads, you start developing an appetite and although these ink pads are inexpensive individually, the price does add up when you start a collection (and you need a different foam applicator for each color). I wish they had small queues, like Clearsnap’s colorbox chalk inks.
• Staining. Once you’ve got some distress ink on your fingers, it doesn’t come off. No matter how long you are going to wash it with soap and water… I’ve been trying to avoid contact, but it’s impossible. You have to touch the applicator in order to replace it… If you have any tips on that matter I’d love to hear them!
• Packaging. The ink pads are designed to stack together on top of each other, which is great, BUT the cap seems to have a will of its own and it magically opens all the time. It wouldn’t be such a big problem if the ink wasn’t that powerful (and staining => see above). A larger inking surface will be appreciated too, as this ink is PERFECT for background stamps.

Tips

1. Foam applicators storage. Ranger does have a special Craft Spinner for storing the applicators. But it works only for the tool itself, and doesn’t answer the need to store the applicators themselves and it’s also a bit pricey.

   I came up with a nifty idea that I want to share with you. Just cut a small Velcro piece with a self adhesive back and adhere it to the base of the ink pads. The applicator will stick on it and you can easily know what color ink the applicator is for. (Just make sure to store the ink pad upside down so it won’t stain your drawer or shelf and it will also keep your ink juicy).
   

2. Ink application.
   • For inking up the edges of your paper or cardstock, tilt your applicator in 45 degrees and gently pass it across the edge. The harder you press on the applicator, the thicker and less precise the inking will get – so instead of applying pressure on it, just repeat the application over and over until you get the desired result.
   • For distressing the surface itself, hold your applicator straight down, start from the outside and go in with swirling motions.
   • You can also cut the applicator to smaller pieces if you want to ink up smaller surfaces or ink with more control – this technique can also help if you want to add a tint to a black and white photo.

These are some cards I have made, using the distress inks:

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Have you ever used distress inks? If so, how did you find them?

I hope this review has been helpful for you, I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment on this post

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• On The Catwalk – Papertrey Ink

On these posts I will review different products – both tools and supply – as well as different stores, artists and other creative spots I have been stumbling upon. “On the catwalk” would not be posted on a weekly basis as the rest of the prompts, but only from time to time, as I spot something worth sharing…

Marching proudly on the catwalk this week are Papertrey Ink‘s products.

Overview -

Papertrey Ink is a company offering original photopolymer stamp sets as well as the ink pads, cardstock and ribbons to accompany the stamping (and some other cool tools and supply).

The company is releasing a few stamp sets each month (on the 15th) along with new shades of ink pads, cardstock and ribbons.

This is how their stamp set is packed:

[Polka Dot Basics]

As you can see, minor assembling is needed but their built-in storage solution is fantastic. The clear plastic case is also great for paper scraps’ storage.

[The content of the stamp set's package]

[The assembled stamp set]

Tip -

I find it the easiest to first lay all the stamps down inside the CD case and then cut off the impressions from the index label sheet individually and stick them on the CD cover, behind the matching stamp.

Pros -

• High Quality - Their cardstock is heavy weight, at 110lb – it is the heaviest cardstock I have come across (apart from specialty artist’s paper which is very expensive). With its smooth texture, the stamped impression is perfect each time. The cardstock also takes heat embossing and water coloring very well. In addition, the sturdiness of the cardstock makes it the perfect for notebook covers (as you can see at the picture above.)
  The vellum is extremely high quality and can be made into a card by itself, as you can see below:
  
  [Click on the photo above for a larger size]
  Their stamps are very durable and gives clean impressions.
  Also their ink pads (by Palette) are excellent too. The ink dries quickly and the light opaque ink-pads give a strong impression on darker colored surfaces.
• Great use of the transparency of the stamps - The stamps’ design is very imaginative and the transparency of the stamps is well incorporated into it. The stamp sets are nestable, thus allow you to customize and adjust your stamped image with layering.
• True Match system - Papertrey Ink is offering matching cardstock, ink pads and ribbon for a perfect coordination.

Cons -

• Price - The stamps are on the expensive side, at 24 USD per set (some smaller sets are sold at 15 USD and the mini ones, that compliment the bigger sets are sold at 5 USD). You can rest assured I would have bought each and every stamp set, had it not been so expensive.
• Shipping – I am a true fan of Papertrey Ink’s products, which makes me more susceptible to delays. It took about 15-20 days for me to receive the products (in California) after making the order. I wanted to play with my new stuff much sooner… On the other hand, they offer a flat rate price for shipping (to continental US) and free shipping on orders above 55 USD (to continental US).
• Release agent - Some of the stamps might have a release agent residue on them, which can interfere with your stamping. On the information leaflet that comes with the stamp, they advise to erase the stamps with a pencil eraser… After getting the residue off, the stamps are perfect.

This is my current Papertrey stash:

I am planning on increasing this stash, significantly… (as my budget allows)

Stay tuned, as tomorrow I am going to post a video tutorial on how to make this notebook using Papertrey Ink’s products.

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Have you ever used Papertrey Ink’s products? What do you think about them?
Is there a specific product or tool you would like me to review?

Share your thoughts and leave a comment on this post!