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Caught the tail end of a live Tim Holtz video on FB, where he was sneaking a look at the new Distress Oxide inks. He calls them a fusion of dye and pigment inks, with all the Distress properties we've come to expect. This mixed media gal can't wait to get some!

They're fascinating. Let us know how you like them.

I am even more excited about his precision stamp press. OH MY MY

Nancy alerted me to his FB Live video today and I could hardly sit still as I watched it. I really think he has taken a great idea and made it FABULOUS.

Take a look, if you're interested.

Guess I better watch it then!

Thanks for the heads up. I'll watch them this afternoon.

I watched the video with the distress oxide inks. Had to forward to get there because distress crayons and specialized boxes to hold them in is not something I need. My thought is that I can probably live without them. If I were a stamper, and I wanted to stamp on dark surfaces, then I would find this super appealing. I also can appreciate how you don't always get a clean image with pigment inks because of how thick they are. But... I'm not much of a stamper and when I do stamp I don't use dark backgrounds. So I'll stick with the dye versions of the distress colors. I also honestly didn't like the "oxidized" effect AT ALL. I can understand where the chemistry of it can be fun. But it's not a look I'd ever want to use myself.

That said, I may want to make a list of the colors I have, and fill in some of the gaps with more of the normal distress pads. I saw several colors last night that I'd really love to have. But I want to make sure if I bought a set, that I'm not buying a bunch of duplicates.

Interesting how different things appeal to us - I loved the oxidized effect. Julie in case you're interested, Tim Holtz has an app that you can put on your smartphone where you can inventory all of your TH signature products - whether from Ranger, Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, etc. I track my inks, markers, etc. that way and find it very handy for knowing when I'm in the store what I have and don't have.

Before Christmas, I tested all my distress inkpads and bought re-inkers for the ones that weren't very inky.... and then I bought a few sets of the cube inkpads in colors I didn't have... I'm enjoying the cube sized inkpads because I can have a lot more variety for a fraction of the cost. Haven't checked out this oxide ink video yet... I don't stamp on dark things very often, either... but maybe it's because I don't have those inks.. LOL

I'm with you Debi - I really only use the distress pads for edging and blending - adding a subtle little bit of color or shadow to something. I don't often use them to stamp full images. I tend to just go with staz-on for those. So those little cubes would be totally perfect for my purposes too.

I'm probably going to see if they have any at Michaels tonight that I KNOW I don't already have. My paper trimmer broke last night, and I want to pick up a new one. I've got some "entire purchase" coupons, so I'm going to check on those little cubes.

The cubes don't last very long. I had to refresh one last night and they're not that old. I do love the Hickory Smoke grey that I got as a cube and will pick up the full sized one IF I ever get to a store to use some of these gift cards I've accumulated.

That's good to know Pam. I had a 25% off entire purchase and a 40% coupon for M's yesterday, and I picked up three sets of those cubes. I would have picked up others, but wanted to minimize duplicates of my large pads. I inventoried everything using that app last night, and I managed to not get any dupes, so that's pretty awesome. But I had planned to supplement the collection with just the little cubes. I may need to rethink that if they really don't keep. I only use them for edging, so I don't go through the ink that fast, but I do need them to not dry out in the long time between uses.

To refresh inkpads and markers, use Ranger's Perfect Ink Refresher. I think it's the best product they've ever made. A bottle lasts a long time. I'm on my second bottle since I started stamping in the mid 90s.

OR

Buy a bottle of glycerin and use that. The Frugal Crafter has written recipes for refreshing at the end of this chart. https://thefrugalcrafter.files.wordpres ... _sheet.pdf

and here is her video about all its uses in inkpads, markers, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ajp_DvjbW4

Good tips, Marianne.

I keep all my cubes in those plastic photo boxes from Iris... somewhat airtight, so maybe that helps.. but I haven't had much trouble with them staying inked enough...

I got some of these containers with the little boxes inside - using them separately so I've now got containers to safely keep cards in... and smaller containers for ink cubes

The one that I had to refresh got a lot of use. For edging they'll probably last a long time.

I watched the video of the new inks, and there were a few that I liked with the oxidation change. Right now I need to use what I have and learn to use some of those things that were a good idea at the time.