I love Tim Holtz! You love Tim Holtz! We all love Tim Holtz!
I love his style, his videos, his product line...but...um...., I don't use his inks (with one exception).
I know, I know, but before you leave, let me explain!
The Ranger - Tim Holtz Distress line is made up of inks and oxides, I won't go into the sprays here, just the pads. So why both, what's the difference? If you love your "Vintage Photo" distress ink, should you get the distress oxide also?
The Difference Between Distress Inks and Distress Oxides
DISTRESS INK | DISTRESS OXIDE | |
|---|---|---|
COMPOSITION | Dye Inks - Water-based | Pigment-Dye Fusions - Water-based |
COVERAGE | More Transparent | More Opaque |
DRYING | Faster | Slower |
BLENDING | Streakier | Creamier |
STAMPING | Don't Recommend | Don't Recommend |
EMBOSSING | Don't Recommend | Don't Recommend |
LAYERING | Don't Recommend | Don't Recommend |
So, that's basically the breakdown. The deal breaker for me and reason that I don't use either? It's in the first row: Water-based!
Simply put, I want my ink to stay where I put it and how I put it. I don't want it to bleed, blur or otherwise distort in anyway. I often layer multiple mediums which may include watercolors, metallic paints, coffee or tea sprays and I don't want my ink altered. Whether it's work done on my junk journals or items that I make for our shop (like the stenciled papers, stamped time cards, etc.), the ink must be permanent and have strong, rich texture and color.
So what do I use?
I use Ranger Permanent Archival Inks!
First off, Ranger Archival Inks are proper inks, what do I mean? They are alcohol soluble, acid free, permanent and WATERPROOF.
They cure quickly (quicker than water-based), and once cured, they are forever. The pads are highly pigmented and can be "revived" with just a squirt of alcohol. I use them for everything that I do, edging or hazing, stamping, blending, dyeing, embossing, etc. I also use the re-inkers to create ink sprays and my own colors for stamping.
Now to be fair, the Tim Holtz line comes in a massive array of gorgeous colors and every new group he puts out is better than the last with the Scorched Timber being the most recent. Also, the Ranger Archival line is slightly pricier than the Tim Holtz line , but the pads are larger. I find that the Archival line has a more refined, subtle line of colors that are in the tonal families I live in and for sure, the pads last much longer. An added bonus? The colors I use the most for stamping (Sepia, Black, Cobalt, Vermillion, etc.) come in 4.25" by 6.25 jumbo sized pads which I absolutely love!
There is also a huge difference between the Distress and Archival reinker qualities. I find that the Distress Reinkers are thin and contain very little pigment compared to the Archival ones, which are quite thick and robustly pigmented. I only need to add 3-4 drops of Archival reinker to a 1oz | 30ml spray bottle to achieve a good, quality spray ink while the same amount of Distress reinker would not even register.
I've recently fallen in love with the Ranger Archival - Wendy Vecchi color line and was wanting to try a few, but my ink budget wasn't up to the task with both the pads and reinkers priced around $7.50. So I searched around a bit and found these bundles complete with sets of detail sticks(around 30 in all) on Amazon.
It worked out to be about 30% less than if I bought each ink, reinker and the detail sticks separately. And of course, since I saved so much on the bundles, I had to grab a few more of the Archival Inks that I wanted to try:
&
I'm more than happy with all of the colors I purchased, but the real standouts are the Marigold, the Viridian and the Peat Moss which is an outstanding alternative to your typical vintage photo or other sepia type color for inking edges. It changes the whole feel of your color scheme while still imparting a "vintage" look.
And why do I use only ONE Tim Holtz Distress Ink?
Easy, I can't find an Archival Ink color equivalent for the Distress Antique Linen which I use to turn new papers into "old" ones.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that you find it useful!
Arwen
Hey there everyone, it's me, Arwen from Inky Fingers Society! I wanted to let you know that we may make few cents when you click a link and purchase one of my favorite items on Amazon. This is at no expense to you, Jeff Bezos has to pay me.
I have bought and used every item that I have linked to and wrote about and I only write about items that are worthy of my time.