Tim Holtz    craftyholtz@hotmail.com
Here are some key ponits that make Distress Inks different: - Stay Wet Longer (allows you to blend and shade on photos and paper - also emboss) other dye inks dry too fast especially on photos so you end up with lines and marks if you go direct from the pad, not these.- Color "Wicks" or Spreads Out (these inks will travel across the surface of your paper when spritzed with water) other dyes do not travel as much although they might bleed a little when wet, the Distress Inks actually "wick" or spread out much further creating several tone on tones.- Color Stability (the colors of the Distress Inks will not break down when wet or heated allowing you to have more color control for the finished look) other "brown colored" dyes will break down when water is added leaving behind a pink & green hue to the papers.- Color Palette (when you see them, you'll understand - these colors are like no others out there. From light tones of Antique Linen & Old Paper, to medium tones of Vintage Photo & Tea Dye, followed by rich tones of Walnut Stain & Black Soot - to colors will speak for themselves)Well I hope this helps - after working with the Distress Inks, I'm sure you'll also find your own personal comparisons with other dye inks - these inks are not "better" than other inks, they just work completely "different" than other inks for the purpose of creating an aged look on papers, photos, and fibersDistress Inks have been specially formulated to produce an aged look on papers, photos, fibers and more. This ink is "wetter" than other dye inks, can be used for embossing on coated OR matte paper (even though it's dye), and can be blended or softened to create a muted image too. So let's talk about a few things:To Distress: I like to use water when I am distressing. I think it gives the papers more of a weathered texture, so here's how I start. Working on any type of paper (manilla, cardstock, or text weight), crumple the paper up - always press in the center of any heavyweight cardstock or manilla stock - this will break the surface tension of the paper and allow you to crumple up the paper easier without tearing it. Next rub the Distress pads over the surface - you can work with several different colors or just one - WALNUT STAIN IS IDEAL FOR THIS. Then spray the area with water (you will immediately notice the ink "travels" outward when water is applied as these inks are designed to react with water). Heat the surface to dry - and here's why... Although you don't have to Heat Set these inks for any reason, I like to dry the water using either my Heat-It Craft Tool or an iron. This will allow for more tone control and keep areas dark and others light. Ironing the paper will also give you a much smoother surface to stamp on without compromising the aged finish. *If you allow the surface to air-dry most of your color will end up on the edges only as the paper will bend and buckle when wet, forcing the ink and water to the edges. Notice that these Distress Inks have again been formulated to retain their color value even when wet and dried. Other brown dyes will break down in color (leaving a pink and green hue on the paper). The Distress Inks hold their colors....For Stamping: What can I say about the many stamping applications these inks can achieve. Once again the special formulation on these Distress Inks provide a versatile finish on papers yet still allow for"normal" stamping applications. I like to stamp on uncoated (matte) papers and immdiately rub the image with a cloth - this will soften or shadow your image WITHOUT smudging any detail - VINTAGE PHOTO, WALNUT STAIN, TEA DYE, BLACK SOOT - wonderful! Another surface is glossy cardstock - keep in mind this is a different type of dye ink so when you stamp on glossy, certain areas of your image will "bead" up, once again providing a Distressed look without you doing a thing (this is probably one of my most favorite looks) - some areas of the image appear "pitted". Brayering on glossy cardstock is also wonderful beacause you can still manipulate the inks with different tools, brushes, your fingers, whatever even after the ink is apllied, for amazing texture and color shading.On Photos: FINALLY an ink formulated for photos! Whether your a scrapbooker or not I have been using all types of photos (vintage or new ones) on my cards and pages. The Distress Inks work on all types of photos - inkjet, laser, toner copies, regular photos (matte or glossy) and even color photos! Start by using the lighest colors ANTIQUE LINEN or OLD PAPER with either a brayer or DTP (direct to photo). Cover the photo in the lighter colors, blend the colors with a brush or your finger after you apply the inks - these inks stay wet long enough for you to blend out any lines or marks other ink pads leave on photos. Next age the edges with VINTAGE PHOTO ot WALNUT STAIN by applying the pad directly to the edges - soften and mix the tones with a brush or your finger too. Of course to complete the aged process lightly sand - YES SAND - the photo with a medium grit sand paper. Don't go over anyones face , but just make a few scratches here and there.The Inkers: The Distress re-inkers are so versatile and fun - especially the bottles they're in! These vintage glass dropper vials are perfect for aging a "batch of tags, fibers, linens" or whatever in baths of Ditress Inks. You can also create your own palette on your craft sheet using the reinkers and hand color any black and white photo color by color (very fun thing to do). I also like using the resist ink or Perfect Medium and the reinkers to create amazing stained backgrounds on papers.The Colors: Well when you have these you will clearly see that these are unlike ANY other inks you've seen. Keep in mind that they coordinate GREAT with current inks we manufacture: Adirondack Espresso & Latte, Archival Coffee & Sepia, Nick Bantock Art Print Brown, but just work different. The colors of Distress Inks are - Antique Linen (the color of aged lace or linens found in grandmothers trunk), Old Paper (the color or timeless book pages tucked away in the attic), Tea Dye (an orange hue of saturated tea bags with a true look of tea dye), Vintage Photo (this color is captured right out of the photographs from times gone by), Walnut Stain (a rich, dark stain of and old walnut tree perfect to create a dark wash - no more mixing), and Black Soot (from the depths, a black like no other - this is the one you've been searching for).I could go on for days about all the great uses for all of Ranger's products, but will stop here and wait to see what all of YOU come up with for these NEW Distress Inks. Keep in mind all the ways you can incorporate them with all the other Ranger products - enjoy your creative journey

Beverly Patterson-Hamilton   stampingpeach@aol.com
The colors:1. Black Soot - This is one of the blackest blacks I've seen in a dye ink. And sadly, or addictively, I own a lot of lines of inkpads, including the Memories black, and the Adirondack black, plus the black that goes in the seashell line. The black soot is a very rich, very black dye pad. As far as distressing goes, I think this is going to be a "less is more" pad. But, it gives some great looks if you edge a tag or picture with this. See more notes on this color in the "can you stamp with it section". The next three colors Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, and Tea Dye remind me of stain samples from Home Depot. They are rich, deep colors.2. Tea Dye - This is a medium brown with a slight orangy/red tint to it. It does look like tea stained papers. 3. Walnut Stain - Is a very deep, true brown. This one is also going to be good for edging. 4. Vintage Photo - This is a nice, deep warm brown. The next two colors, Antique Linen and Old Paper, are much lighter shades.5. Antique Linen - This is a soft, creamy brown. It is lighter than the Adirondack Latte, but the color reminds me of the "coffee" my mom let me have as a kid. That "coffee" was about 80% milk and 20% coffee. VERY LIGHT. This is a wonderful color for aging all kinds of things.6. Old Paper - This is an interesting color. It is a light color, with a lot of green to it. The green is very earthy, and kind of reminds me of a faded grass stain on a baseball uniform.

Shannon  jaysonshannon@BELLSOUTH.NET - Well....if you use it like any other ink pad then you won't be impressed. The cool thing about these inks is their blendability and how the colors won't break down in water. And one pad isn't very fun, you need some of the lighter colors too. Try stamping an image with your walnut pad then immediately spritz the image with water and watch what happens. If you do this technique with the black soot color on regular cardstock the ink will look smudged around the image (but the image doesn't lose a bit of detail) and will look like a charcoal sketch. Do the same thing on glossy cardstock and tilt the cardstock to make the ink run and you get a way cool swirly/marbley thing going on. Your image will be lighter than it was before you added water but it doesn't smudge, run or lose any detail. You can do this with all the colors and they all look a little different. Print out a scan of a vintage photo on your inkjet printer and smoosh your Distress pads directly onto the image. The distress pad won't smudge your printed image and you can use a couple of the lighter colors together to make the photo look aged. Put a few drops of the walnut reinker in a spritzer bottle and fill it with water, shake it up and spray it on the picture. It fades some of the image but also leaves some of the walnut ink color so the image looks like one of those tin type picture thingies.Put a drop of walnut reinker on a teflon sheet and give it a couple of spritzes of water then mix it all up with something round (the bottom of a water bottle or hairspray can works well). Put the inky round thing on your cardstock for a faux coffee ring. Wipe up the excess ink from your teflon sheet with a piece of cardstock then spritz it with a mixture of Future Floor Finish and any of the gold toned Moon Glow pigments. It looks like tortoise shell.Spritz a piece of cardstock or a shipping tag with plain water then crumple it up. Smooth it out just a little then smoosh a couple of the lighter colored Distress pads on it. Recrumple it a little then swipe a darker pad over the raised areas. Spritz with water again to make it more blendy. Then put some Future in a spritz bottle with a few drops of one of one of the darker Distress reinkers and I like to add a little scoop of Moon Glow because everything is better with a little shine. Spray that on your tag, let it dry and it looks like distressed leather.