Colouring with Distress Ink | Tutorial

Hello there!

Laura here today with another tutorial. I have been playing with stamps lately, and learning some new ways to add colour to my stamped images.  Today I am sharing a tip to colour images with Distress Ink to achieve a sort of water coloured look.

Actually this is two tutorials in one, if you are like me and have a hard time calling your projects "finished" the second step is a bit of a bonus lesson!

So let's get started, you will need a stamp (maybe one with not a lot of detail is best), cardstock, water, a fine paint brush (or water brush), and Distress Ink in the colour (s) of your choice.  I am beginning with dark walnut.

Using the Distress Ink go ahead and stamp your image onto some plain cardstock.

Because Distress Ink takes a little bit to dry it is perfect for going in with a wet paint brush and pulling some of the colour towards the centre of the image.

I know it is hard to tell in the photo above, but your will achieve a soft water coloured look.  You can stop here if you wish.

Or like me you can keep playing!  I added a bit of Distress Ink to my craft mat by smooshing the ink pad around on the mat.

Next I used my water brush to "pick up" a bit of ink.

Then I went back to my original image and added in a bit of this dark ink wherever I thought the little deer may be shadowed. You do not need much ink at all,

After that , while the ink was still wet, I used my (cleaned) water brush to draw the ink towards the centre of the image.

This gave me what looks like three levels of colour.  The dark at the outer edge, light in the centre and a mid-tone in between.

As a last step, I switched to a very light Distress Ink to colour the little deer's face and chest, and then a soft pink to colour his nose, ears and the hearts on his body.

Here is my finished image.  It is important to note that you are going for a water coloured look, so if you are expecting a crisp and clean finished image this technique may not be the one for you.  That said, I love this technique, it is easy to do, quick and requires very little supplies.  Plus it is one more reason to play with my Distress Inks and I just love when I can use my stash for different things!

Supply List: water brush; Walnut Stain, Tea Dye and Tattered Rose Distress ink; smooth white cardstock

Thanks for visiting today, next Wednesday I will share a quick tip with you and give this sweet little guy a "home"!