Distress Bleeding Technique Tutorial

Completed card using Distress Bleeding Technique

Ingredients

Watercolor Paper

Distress Ink* - In this tutorial Distress Oxides were used. Colors Cracked Pistacio, Broken China and      Wilted Violet  

Water in a Spray Bottle

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Hair Dryer or Heat Gun

MISTI Stamping Tool

Optional - Wink of Stella Pen

Steps

1.  Using a MISTI Stamping Tool stamp the image (Tim Holtz) with Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide. 

2.  Spray the image with water.  Tip the paper to let the color bleed in different directions.  Dry with a hair dryer or heat tool.  The image must be completely dry before the next step.

3.  Continuing to use the MISTI, over stamp the image with Broken China Distress Oxide Ink and spray with water.  Repeat the tipping to create drips and runs of color.  Dry with a heat tool or hair dryer.  Repeat this step with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Ink.  You can used as many colors of ink as you would like to.  I find three to be a nice balance.


Optional Step - Color the main image with Wink of Stella pen

4. Using the MISTI, over stamp the image in Archival Ink Jet Black.

Here are several other examples of this technique being used.

This example skips the optional step and the 4th step.

*Distress Ink and Distress Oxides are specially formulated to bleed so they work they best for this technique.  You can use other water base dye ink but the bleed out will not be as true color as distress inks.