The big news from Tim Holtz and Ranger that came out off this year’s CHA show in January was the debut of Distress Crayons. Like everything Distress, the Crayons are water reactive and you can manipulate them with water in to great effect. This first group of 3 sets encompass 18 colors in the Distress line; Set #1 is bright colors, Set #2 are earth-tone colors and Set #3 is neutrals plus black and white.
As you’ll see in the video, the Crayons are a unique product that can be used with stencils and produce beautiful images. Scribble a little color out on your Nonstick Craft Sheet or palette paper, pick it up with an Ink Blending Tool, and apply through the stencil openings. The Crayons make lovely, crisp images with stencils.
When used with a Water Brush (or a regular brush dipped in water), you can move the color to create gradations, allowing it to ease off to nothing as there is more water and less of the pigment from the Crayon.
They’re also perfect for use on Deli Paper. With them you can create bold and graphic images over what is already on the Deli Paper. Simple shapes or more complex, Distress Crayons are fabulous when paired with other media on Deli Paper.
Supplies For This Video:
Deli Paper – Plain and Stripey
Stencils – our Joggles Stencils and Masks or click here to see all of the brand of Stencils we stock
Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool
Inkssentials Mini Replacement Foam
11 Comments
Super cool demonstration — I’ve been playing with the ones I ordered from you last week and they are so creamy and luscious to work with. Great to have some new ideas (the blending and stencils)! And I hadn’t tried them on my deli collage paper either. Heading to the art table right now . . . Thanks, Barb!
Thank you for the demo, after seeing them in action I will need to get these right away!
Thanks for sharing how the new crayons work – as always – an awesome video.
Love them, I received my set that I bought from joggles. Haven’t had to much time to play with them but hope to later today. I’m guilty of trying to straighten up and organize my craft room yet again. lol Thanks Barb for sharing these ideas.
Playing with my sets (all3) ordered from Joggles. They arrived so fast! Thanks for the video and tips. Love this new art medium!
I’d really like to know how these actually compare to watercolor crayons, paint sticks, gellatos, even oil pastels. Not all of us jump to buy the latest trend just because Tim says it’s smooth and creamy a million times… Lol! All the ones I asked about above had their trendy moment in the spotlight, too… I only bought the watercolor crayons. Can you pickup color with a blending tool and any of these others? Am I wrong that the stencil technique is the only really new thing?
There are some differences: these are not oil based, so are unlike Paintstiks or oil pastels (which both have a lengthy dry time) and are not watercolors. They’re a water based pigment whereas watercolor are transparent. I haven’t used Gelatos in a long time, but you may be able to pick them up with an Ink Blending Tool the way I did with the Crayons. One big difference: if you have favorite colors in the Distress line you can now work with them in this pigment form. I do like the pen style tool the product is in as it’s comfortable to work with, much like any pen or pencil.
I am wondering how permanent the crayons are. I do the reactivate with water, and or are they permanent like inktense?
Hi Sally,
Because they’re a Distress product, they’re meant to be water reactive. I do not believe there is a way to make the marks pernament.
Barb
Thank you for the quick response.
Thanks for the “colorful” inspiration! Guessing to make the marks/coloring permanent they’d need to be covered w/something that will dry clear (fluid matte medium, clear gesso). Keep calm & color on!