Was I impressed, or did they cause me "Distress"!?

Find out how I got on below....
I've never worked with spray inks before and boy did I have fun playing with these. In fact I may have gone over the top somewhat, so apologies in advance for the essay below!.

I got carried away testing both colours of the stain products using various techniques such as spraying, stenciling, wax resist, embossing, stamping, mixing in with texture paste, resin and air dry clay, and colouring embellishments such as mdf, ribbon and lace.

I also wanted to see how they performed in comparison to the Distress ink pad and re-inkers, as from what I understand the two products are the same only the spray stain is in fluid form. So is there any benefit of the spray stain over the ink pad and re-inkers?.

I am an analyst so I attacked this like I would any project at work, I researched the product, did my prep, tested out various theories and scenarios, analysed the results and had lots of inky fun in the process. I've provided a summary of each technique and a brain dump of my findings on each below.

These are my personal opinions based on my results, others may have different results/thoughts on the product.

Overview of Product

Tim Holtz distress stains are acid free water-based dye inks for paper & porous surfaces, they are a fluid version of the original distress inks, and come in 1.9 fl. oz bottles with a fine mist sprayer. They are currently available in 64 colors, including white-picket-fence (opaque pigment) and 3 metallics pigments.

From my understanding, being a dye ink they are transparent in nature and due to their "thin" quality absorb into the paper and dry quickly. Being "Distress" also means they react with water and are designed to wick and mottle when wet.

First Impressions - Price and Packaging

My first thoughts were 'Wow! thats a decent size bottle'. They are almost 4 times the size of the re-inker bottle, 1.9oz as opposed to 0.5oz, so although slightly more expensive than the re-inkers they would initally appear to be better value for money.

If you purchase the cheaper reinkers but want to be able to do a spray technique you would also need to buy a spray mister, making it more expensive than the spray stain. On the flip side however, the re-inkers are highly concentrated so may last a lot longer, which could then make the re-inkers a more viable option.

The Distress ink pads are at a higher price point than the spray stains so in this sense the spray stain would win in my eyes on value for money with the added benefit of being able to also use it as a spray.

Preparation for testing

As I don't own Distress ink pads in either Speckled Egg or Pine Needles, in order to test thoroughly I made my own ink pads from both spray stains for use in testing with stamping and blending tools.

I do own the Pine Needles re-inker so I also created another ink pad for this along with a spray mister diluted with water, so I could carry out some comparisons between the products.

I realised later that creating ink pads from the spray stains was a waste of time, they didn't provide any colour as they had seeped into the pad, and dried up. The easiest option I found for use with a blending tool or a blending brush was to spray the stain straight onto a glass mat to distribute the colour.

The re-inker worked well on an ink pad, it is more concentrated and this is after all what it was designed for, hence the name!.

Techniques

Spraying Direct onto Card stock

Watercolour Card stock

For my first tests I sprayed the inks (Spray Stain:Speckled Egg, Spray Stain:Pine Needles and Re-Inker:Pine Needles) direct onto watercolour card stock, then watched the reactions when adding water.

1 : Sprayed/spritzed direct onto card stock:Firstly I sprayed the 2 stains and the re-inker (in a spray mister) direct to the watercolour card stock.
I initially sprayed the Pine Needle re-inker without diluting it, but it was way to dark, after a couple of tests I settled on 6 parts water to 1 part re-inker, which give a similar colour to the Pine Needle spray stain. Both the stain and re-inker reacted exactly the same, creating a lovely speckled effect.

I wasn't impressed with the results from the Speckled Egg spray stain, the consistency was much more thin and watery than the Pine Needles. It just puddled on the paper and didn't create the spray effect I was expecting.

It may be this is how they are supposed to react, and my Pine needle spray stain is not fluid enough?, it would be interesting to compare the consistency of another Distress spray stain to test this theory .

2. Misted with Water then sprayed with ink: I then misted the card stock with water first and sprayed the inks after.
Both the Pine Needle stain and re-inker were slightly lighter than the previous test, due to being diluted further by the water, and created a wonderful mottled effect, but again there wasn't much difference in the reaction/colour between the two.

As before I was disappointed with the results from the Speckled Egg stain, it was lighter in colour than when sprayed directly, but other than that didn't seem to react with the added water at all, perhaps because it was already too watery?

I also tried spraying the stains and re-inkers onto the card stock then misted them with water. The results for this were similar to the above, with little or no difference between the Pine Needle stain and re-inker. Once again the Speckled Egg stain failed to fulfill my expectations.

Other Card stock

Next I tried spraying just the stains onto both Black card (by Linda Chapman) and also Kraft card (by Linda Chapman).

1: Black Card stock findings
Neither colour stain showed up on the black card, they just appeared as black splodges.
I believe this is because the stains are dye based and therefore transparent in nature, so don't work well on darker card stock..

2: Kraft Card stock findings
The Pine Needle spray did show up on the kraft card, albeit more muted in colour than on white card. The Speckled Egg however, was hardly noticeable.

Clearly the lighter the card colour the more vibrant the ink colour, and darker coloured card will produce more subtle tones. Similarly because of the transparency of the ink, lighter colour stains may not show up so well on darker coloured card stock.
From what I've read I believe the pigment based stains (metallic and the opaque white picket fence) in the Distress spray stain range would give a better result on darker card stock, because the ink actually sits on top of the paper so they are slower-drying.

Different coloured/textured card will also obviously give different results, with coated card stock probably not fairing as well as uncoated, as the stains are designed for porous surfaces. It would just be a case of playing with different card stocks in your stash and seeing how they perform.

Stenciling

For my next techniques I used watercolour card stock and a leaf stencil, (by Mariannedesigns) and applied the inks (Spray Stain:Speckled Egg, Spray Stain:Pine Needles and Re-Inker:Pine Needles) through the stencil in different ways.

1: Sprayed through stencil: Firstly I sprayed the 2 stains and the re-inker (in a spray mister) through the stencil.
The results were interesting, when you use the sprays through a stencil you don't have much control, it's very random and can bleed under the stencil. The Speckled Egg stain bled the most because it had a much runnier consistency than the Pine Needle stain.
If this is the look you are going for then great, however I was hoping for a more sharper result, perhaps using a card stock other than watercolour would have given a better result.

2: Stenciled using blending tool:Next I sprayed the stains and re-inker onto my glass mat and used a blending tool to blend the inks through the stencil.
I preferred this method to spraying as I had more control over where the ink went. The image is much clearer and didn't bleed for any of the products. I was even impressed (just a little!) with the results from the Speckled Egg, but again there wasn't a noticeable difference between the Pine Needle spray stain and re-inker.

3: Bleaching through Stencil:I applied both the stain and re-inker to my glass mat, then added to the card using a blending tool. I then caused a reaction by spraying with water through a stenciling and blotting to lift the colour.
I have never tried this technique before and can see how it could be interesting to creating subtle backgrounds. I definitely need more practice though!, I could lie and say I was going for the grungy look, which I do like, but in truth was hoping for a sharper finish.
As with both techniques above, there was little difference in the results between the Pine Needle spray and re-inker.

4: Stenciled using texture paste:For my last stencil technique I mixed the stains and re-inker into translucent texture paste and applied with a palette knife through the stencil.
Loved this!. I was really pleased with the results from all three products when mixed into texture paste. The re-inker did result in a darker colour than the stain, however I applied this straight from the bottle to the paste so it wasn't diluted in any way.

Stamping

For these techniques I used white card (by Linda Chapman) and a 'Lamination' Stamp (by Stamps by Me) and created a few toppers that will be used on cards in the future.

For the first topper (on left) I stamped the outline and outline sentiment with black versafine and the layering part of the stamp in Speckled Egg, by spraying direct onto the stamp, though I did have to do this several times to get any colour!. I then sprayed both colours on a glass mat and applied them to the background with a blending tool. Finally I coloured the sentiment in with Pine Needle using a paint brush dipped in the left over spray on the glass mat.

For the middle topper I stamped the outline in Pine Needles, and the layering stamp in Speckled Egg, then blended around the edges with Speckled Egg. Both stains were applied by spraying the stain onto a glass mat and using a blending tool.

For the third topper (on right) I stamped the outline with black versafine and the layering part and background were done using Pine Needles, applied by spraying the stain onto a glass mat and using a blending tool.
Findings
Stamping with the Distress spray stains produces the same results to using Distress inks. Being "Distress" the images are obviously less sharp that other inks, but I love this look as its great for a grungy, vintage and shabby chic projects.

Emboss Resist/ Faux Bleaching

For this technique I heat embossed the Blossoming Bouquet Stamp (by Crafters Companion) with embossing ink, then added clear embossing powder before using a blending brush to add the stains. I added Speckled Egg to the top of the card then blended the Pine Needle stain in at the right and across the bottom of the card.

Then I used a water brush to lift off the colour from the flower, added a shadow around the stamped image using a small brush with the Pine Needle stain, and also stamped a couple of other random images with just water. Finally I coloured the sentiment in with Pine Needle spray using a waterbrush.

Findings
Using a blending brush rather than a blending tool with the stains gave a lot smoother blend, and you can even see the Speckled Egg and the two colours did blend together beautifully.

The image at the bottom left was also stamped in water at the top left over the speckled Egg but it just didn't react at all, I also flicked some splats of water around, which clearly show on the darker Pine Needle, but not on the Speckled Egg. (Have I mentioned before I'm not totally impressed with the Speckled Egg consistency and lack of reaction with water!!! )

I will however, be matting and layering the finished image onto a card later, as I love the overall end result.

Wax Resist

This is a new technique for me that I saw on either Youtube or possibly Craftworld a few weeks ago, so I really wanted to try this out.
I took an embossing folder and embossed some Cut-Rite Wax Paper, which I've had hiding in a cupboard for years, I then placed my white card stock above and below the wax paper and ironed on the hottest setting (no steam)

The goal is to melt the wax coating and transfer the pattern to your card stock, to use as a resist when adding the ink, which I then applied from my glass mat using a blending brush.

Findings
It worked! I was very impressed with this for use as a background, the bonus being you get two for one, a de-bossed and an embossed side.
As for the product the Pine needle blended beautifully and you can clearly see the embossed pattern, but again no real difference between the stain and the re-inker. The Speckled egg did show but was extremely faint.

Colouring Embellishments

Air Drying Clay Embellishments

For my next technique I used a fern silicone mold (by Katy Sue designs) and some Prima modeling clay, and compared both the Pine Needle spray stain and re-inker.

1: Ink mixed with air drying clay in mold:Firstly I mixed some Pine Needle spray stain into some white modeling clay and added to the mold, once dry I repeated the process with the Pine needle re-inker.
The larger fern leaf on the right was coloured with re-inker from the mister that had been diluted, the other darker fern leaves on the right were coloured with undiluted ink direct from the bottle.

Both the spray stain and the re-inker mixed in and coloured the modeling clay extremely well without affecting the consistency of the clay itself. The clay dried in the same time as the un-coloured clay. The colour produced by both was a flat colour, but could have been more mottled if not kneaded in so well.

The spray stain resulted in a lot paler colour, and the ones mixed with the re-inker were much darker as its much more concentrated. You can easily dilute the re-inkers to get the same lighter shades as the spray stain, but you can't make the stain darker if needed. In this case I think the re-inker would be the more sensible option.

2: Molded embellishment painted with ink:I used white modeling clay in the mold, once dry I sprayed some leaves with the Pine Needle stain (on the left). The smaller leaf on the right was sprayed with the diluted Pine Needle re-inker in the mister , the larger two leaves on the right were painted with a brush direct from the re-inker bottle.
I preferred this method to colour the air drying clay, as it results in more definition and shading making them look more realistic, particularly in the veins of the leaves where the ink has pooled more.

Other Embellishments

For my final tests I gathered some porous material embellishments from my craft stash and sprayed the left side of each with Speckled Egg spray stain, and the right side with Pine Needles spray stain. In addition I sprayed 2 paper roses, and also mixed in some stain to colour some resin flowers in a mold.

Findings
The Speckled Egg was a lot darker than I expected on both the hessian pieces, but for the cork and wood veneer it didn't have much of an impact, the Pine Needles was more obvious but still very subtle due to the darker material.

For the Lace trimming and chipboard pieces there wasn't an obvious difference between the Speckled egg and the side stained with Pine Needles , unlike the paper roses and satin ribbon where the colour of each stain was much brighter and more obvious.

Most natural fibers appear to absorb Distress Inks successfully, but are susceptible to bleeding if they contact moisture. The depth and intensity of colour also depends on how porous/dark the material is.

I absolutely loved the translucent effect I was able to achieve mixing the Pine Needle stain in with the resin (close up image below), however the resin mixed with the Speckled egg never set, whether this is because the stain was too watery, or whether I made a mistake and got my ratios wrong (resin to hardener) I don't know, so will reserve judgement on that one.

Summing Up

I've really enjoyed carrying out my first ever product review, its been a great experience and a huge learning curve.

The Speckled Egg did not, in my opinion, live up to the hype, especially since it is at a slightly higher price point than other colours in the Distress spray stain range. The colour itself was nice enough, but the consistency failed to meet my expectations, it was weak and appeared very diluted.

I'm hoping the Speckled Egg I received was just from a dodgy batch and the Pine Needles is a true reflection of the capabilities, as I loved the Pine Needle spray stain, and everything I was able to do with it. The depth of the color and how beautifully it performed meant I wasn't disappointed with any of the technique results.

From all my testing I found no real deal breakers for not recommending the Pine Needles Distress spray stain, having said this, there doesn't appear to be anything it does that the ink pads and a watered down re-inker in a mister can't, as there was little or negligible difference in the results of all the techniques I applied.

You can use both sprain and re-inkers for spraying large areas, smooching, blending or painting/watercolouring smaller areas, resist techniques, stamping and mixing into texture paste, resin and air modeling clay. Even Ranger themselves admit the spray stain is the same product but in a more fluid form, and that you can still use the watered down re-inker in a spray mister.

So, which is best? when deciding whether to purchase the spray stains, I think ultimately it will be down to individual circumstances, preference, budget and the type of project they want to create.

• If you are happy with the ink pads and re-inkers you already own, I fail to see why you would also need to purchase the spray stains as well. Unless of course you are a Distress collector and need every product in every colour!.
• If you just own the ink pads and want to be able to do spray techniques, the most sensible option I believe would be to buy the re-inkers and a spray mister, since you aren't able to use the spray stain to replenish the ink pads because they aren't concentrated enough.
• However, if you don't have the ink pads or re-inkers, the spray stains may be a more financially viable option as they do everything the ink pads and re-inkers do with the added addition of being in spray form.

Would I purchase more Distress Spray Stains?

For me personally although I love the sprayed/mottled look what sealed it for me was how seamlessly I could blend the product by adding to a glass mat and using a blending brush.

This is how I tend to use my Distress ink pads anyhow, so with the spray stains being lower in price than the ink pads, and the added benefit of having it already in spray form, in future I will be investing in some of the other spray stain colours (where I don't already have the ink pads or re-inkers.) rather than the ink pads. I would also like to try out the metallic pigments, and the white opaque pigment stain (picket fence) in the range.

So, in answer my initial statement, overall yes I am impressed with the Distress Spray Stains, even if the process did still leave me a little bit distressed!! (i.e inky fingers below!).

Hopefully this review has covered most questions and provided you with enough information to help you form your own opinion of the product, and whether they are value for money.
Any questions, please feel free to message me or comment on this post.
Crafty Hugs
Linda

Some other suggested techniques

This is a list of other ideas/thoughts I had while testing on how else I could use the product in my crafting;

• Use to colour flower foaming foam.
• Using shaving foam to create funky backgrounds.
• Add mica or perfect pearls to give a shimmering result.
• Mix into white acrylic paint to save buying lots of different colours of acrylics.
• Try the iron off resist technique: Stamp and clear emboss an image, add distress ink, then place a piece of paper over and using a hot iron remove the embossing, to leave a ghost image of the embossed design.