Distress Stain or Ink

Tim Holtz Distress Ink or Stain, that is the question?



I was thinking about what the difference is between the two... 
They both come in the same wonderful colors, but the properties of these products is different.
So do we need to have both? OFCOURSE we do! and here is why!  
They give different effects. You can see the stain on the left is a more solid even effect (heavier coverage), the example on the right is a softer effect (lighter coverage). 
Which is better? Neither is better just depends on what effect you are trying to achieve.


Both can be activated by water, you still get that washed effect but the stain is still darker and the ink is still lighter.


The Distress Stain also is great for using on ribbon or other fabric you would like to dye, this is great because you always have the right color ribbon, flowers, canvas! You can see by the two examples the different effects on the flower ribbon.


You can stamp with both. The ink gives you a more defined image as opposed to the stain which is heavier and kind of "bleeds" a little. Just depends what you are looking for. Distress Inks can also be used with embossing powders where as the stains can't because they are too fluid.

For this I used the stained background with the ink stamped image. I like the crisper image this produced.


Here is the finished product!