Technique of the Week: Painting with Oxide Inks

This article is in conjunction with the Art 'n Soul newsletter article "Technique of the Week". To continue our postings using the very popular Distress Oxide inks, I decided to try and see how these inks would work if I painted with them. By the way, we have all of the Oxide colors in stock at Art 'n Soul as of the date of this email. We absolutely love these inks and how they work. Not that we would give up regular Distress inks... they are different.

To begin I cut a panel of watercolor cardstock with the second largest die of the Memory Box Postage Rectangle Layers 30052. 

I selected the Magenta background stamp  14.660.R, and stamped it with Versamark ink and embossed it with JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. 

I chose Broken China and Wilted Violet Oxide inks to start and pressed them onto an acrylic block and added water. 

I painted the centers with the Broken China first, then added Wilted Violet. 

Once all the flowers were painted, I added some Peeled Paint Oxide to the block and painted the leaves.

I watered down the Broken China color a lot and painted it all around the images. 

I colored the berries or buds in with a glitter pen.

One of the things I noticed about painting with Oxides is the same thing I have seen when blending with them. Oxides are a hybrid of dye and pigment, and while the dye soaks into your paper, the pigment sits on top. This makes them more opaque than regular Distress ink. The colors are beautiful, but getting shading is not easy.

After painting the images and letting it dry, I selected a Magenta sentiment 07.954.G Think about you often. I chose a panel of So Silk Fair Blue cut to 4" x 5.25" and stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the panel with Versamark ink. I embossed it with JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder. 

Since I wanted to stamp my background stamp on this panel, I decided to mask my sentiment. I stamped the sentiment onto some JudiKins Eclipse masking paper. By the way, this masking paper is the best out there, and it is now available again. We just got a few rolls in stock at the shop.

I fussy cut the sentiment out of the masking paper and applied it to the panel. I then stamped the background stamp with Versamark ink over the entire panel. 

I embossed it with clear embossing powder and then removed the mask over my sentiment.

For mounting the watercolored panel, I decided to pop it up, so I used the Hero Arts Infinity Nesting Rectangle Dies DI198. This set has so many sizes of rectangles that you should be able to find the right size for most anything. There are 16 dies with 0.125" between each one, and the largest is 4.25" x 5.5". I found the perfect size to use to cut a piece of fun foam for the back of my watercolored panel.

I don't like the white sides of the fun foam to show, so I colored the sides with a dark blue Copic marker (B26). The fun foam creates a solid backing for the panel. I adhered the pieces to the background panel (using scor tape), and adhered it all to a white base card. I sprinkled a few sequins.

I really love the Distress Oxide inks for so many things; but at the end of the day, I would say that I think that regular Distress inks are better for watercoloring. Since the dye inks soak into the paper, they are more transparent, and shade more easily. It's nice to know thought, that if you just have one or the other, you can watercolor with all of them.

Magenta Products Used:

(If you are local, please look for products at Art 'n Soul. If you are not local and wish to find Magenta products, you can click on the link in the stamp or product name below each image, or you can visit the Magenta online store here).

14.660.R Floral Background

07.954.G Think about you often

Other Products Used:

Memory Box 30052 Postage Rectangle Layers

Hero Arts DI198 Infinity Nesting Rectangle Dies

Distress Oxide inks: 

Broken China, Wilted Violet, Peeled Paint

JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder

JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder

JudiKins Clear Detail embossing powder

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

So Silk Fair Blue cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Fun Foam

Copic marker B26

Eclipse masking paper

Scor tape