How to use: Tim Holtz Distress Inks VS Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks

You may have noticed our wonderful Ranger Distress Ink Pads range by the man himself, Tim Holtz! There are two parts to our Tim Holtz Ink collection: Distress Ink Pads and Distress Oxide Ink Pads.

The differences between Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks

First things first, the ordinary Tim Holtz Distress Inks are a collection of acid-free, non-toxic, fade resistant water-based dye inks. They are perfect for creating weathered, vintage effect craft projects, including scrapbook pages, card backgrounds and papercraft projects.

The Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks are a little different. They use water-reactive dyes and pigment ink fusions that create an oxidized effect when sprayed with water. Oxide inks are perfect for adding that extra grungy, layered look just by using a spritz of water. They oxidize immediately, creating an almost chalky consistency.

On white cardstock, Distress Inks appear as a more vivid color, it's not until you use the inks on a kraft or darker colored background that you notice the differences in the finish of the two products. Whilst the Distress Oxide Inks cover the color of your background, the Distress inks allow the cardstock background to show. Dependent on your project, you may prefer the solid color a Distress Oxide Ink offers.

Which inks blend better?

With every good blending tool, you need a great ink, which is great news as these Ranger Tim Holtz Ink Pad collections are just perfect!

Distress Inks can be a little more difficult to blend, mainly because of their slight transparency, which means you needs to have a little patience and plenty of practice to perfect the art. On the other hand, Distress Oxide Inks are made for blending! Their slightly chalky characteristic means they blend and smudge with ease.

Distress Inks create a grittier, antique look whereas Oxide Inks are little creamier in their texture. You’ll find that each of these inks suit different projects so dependent on what kind of project you wish to create you may want to switch between the two.

Yes, Embossing with Distress Inks is possible!

There is one more thing you can do with Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks which you may not know about, embossing! Its likely you’ll want your design to come up the color of the ink you want to select, so using it alongside a clear embossing powder means to set it when you do heat emboss it, will allow you to create a beautiful colored craft design.

Our Sizzix Creative Designers love using Distress Inks, for some design inspiration, subscribe to the Sizzix Youtube channel!

Thanks for reading our blog post and remember to tag us in your makes using #mymakingstory!