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I am thinking of buying a few distress inks as I am quite intrigued by them. If you were only buying a few to start, what colors would you buy to start with? I love blues, pinks, purples ... not so big into greens. Any ideas would be appreciated.
I LOVE distress inks (have them all, yes, I have an illness....have the paints, and a lot of the stains as well. If you love blues, pinks and purples, I would start with those. They are fun to play with. My favorite blues are Broken China, Chipped Sapphire (dark), tumbled Glass (light), and my favorite purple is Seedless perserves, my favorite pinks are the raspberry (bright), victorian velvet, worn lipstick. Spun sugar is a very, pale pink.
I love to use antique linen to age paper, and vintage photo to go around images as well. Another favorite of mine is Wild Honey.
Check out the videos Tim has on his site as he has lots of info on there on how to use them in fun ways. I love to use them for backgrounds.
I'm sure you'll have fun with whatever colours you decide to get!
I think Tumbled Glass is quite possibly the prettiest blue ever, I love it! I've added a pic of a card where I brayered Tumbled Glass onto a folder before embossing so you can see it in action over a reasonable area. It's a slightly turquoise-toned blue though, as is Broken China. Faded Jeans is more a "true blue" mid-tone and Chipped Sapphire is a good rich, dark blue.
I'm waiting on an order to arrive that has Seedless Preserves in it so it's good to see Winnie recommend that one. I don't use purple very often but I do have and like Dusty Concord (used on the "spooky" postcard attached).
Picked Raspberry is definitely my favourite pink in the Distress range. I find Victorian Velvet has a slightly odd brownish undertone and Spun Sugar is very, very pale so it's not as useful as some others. Worn Lipstick is nice but Picked Raspberry has the edge for me.
ETA: like Winne, I would always include Antique Linen and Vintage Photo in my arsenal of Distress inks if you do vintage at all. They're the two Distress colours that I would most likely wrestle for if somebody tried to take my inks away!
Have fun, I suspect you'll end up collecting more once you get started!
I too have collected all the DI's,I think Weathered Wood is the palest blue,Salty Ocean a good, clear Sky Blue, Chipped Sapphire a deep blue. Pinks, Spun Sugar the palest pink, Tattered Rose, almost a beige rather than a Pink,another vote for Pickled raspberry. Purples,Shaded Lilac the palest, Dusty Concord a lovely mid-tone and Seedless Preserves the darkest.
I'd also recommend too getting the re-inker with each pad as you buy them-so much you can do with the inks, as well as re-ink your pad!
Definitely also the Antique Linen, Vintage Photo & I would add Tea Dye, for edgeing- its a 'warmer' colour.I did this sampler to help match up colours.The one on the right is Distress, the other Adirondacks.
I think Weathered Wood is the palest blue,Salty Ocean a good, clear Sky Blue
That's interesting - I'd consider Weathered Wood to be a grey rather than a blue!
I'd forgotten about Salty Ocean but agree it's a good clear blue. Tattered Rose is really useful if you want to colour caucasian people with DI as it's a good skin tone rather than a "true" pink.
I do agree, it is a sort of grey/blue-I think its one of those that seems to change slightly depending what you pair it with? I like the idea for the Tattered Rose, hadn't thought of using it like that
To the original poster you are in for a real treat with Distress. They are very fun to work with and the possibilities seem to be endless. Watching Tim's videos will make your head spin with ideas.
I just started getting them, and the first blue I got was tumbled glass, followed by Chipped Sapphire. I bought a lavendar and the Dusty concord for purples, and Spun Sugar and worn lipstick in pinky reds.
I am not a green person, but have ended up with shabby shutters (light green) and grass green. I have also recently added peacock (blue turqouise) and Vintage photo, and Lemonade (yellow). I also have Marmalade (orange). Enjoy!
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deb_, if you are only going to start with a few, what you pick might depend on what you want to do with them. If you are going to do wrinkle-free distress backgrounds, you will want to pick colors that you'd like to see together using that technique. A range of a particular color is fun for that, like many shades of blue. But if you are want to try painting with them, you would want colors that will work for the kind of images you will be coloring. If you want to play with distressing/aging elements of your projects, then the browns like Antique Linen and Vintage Photo, and Aged Mahogany and Tea Dye might be what you want.
In any case, you might start with a few, but you probably won't end up with a few. They are such versatile inks and come in so many beautiful colors that you'll likely start collecting them like so many of us have. Even green! I'm not big on most greens myself, but the Distress greens are so wonderful.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
Last edited by Rachelrose; 03-20-2013 at 06:37 AM..
Thanks for all the tips! I am trying to decide if I should go down this slippery slope, sounds like you cant stop at just a few!
Hi Deb , I am also from Winnipeg but wintering in Mesa Arizona. I just attended a Rubber Stamp show here ,and succumbed to Distress Inks after seeing a demo on a technique using them. Thought I would never go down this slope....never say never. I have only purchased one last summer Antique Linen as I thought that would be all i would need.
However purchased the colors I would need to do this particular technique which was a floral. Harriet Skelly recently has a picture posted in the gallery using the technique with Rubbernecker Stamps. Sorry i cant link but you should be able to find it . Enjoy the ride down the slope.:p
Distress Inks
