Tim Holtz Distress Markers

Yes they have arrived! Tim introduced these at CHA--markers to match all 36 of his Distress inks!
But the #1 question I'm hearing in the store is...."O.K. that's cool but what can I do with them?"

Well here's just one technique that I think makes these markers really fun.
I like this technique best on stamps that have a good amount of solid area like this one from Hero Arts.

Love these three colors together: Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade and Dusty Concord.

The markers have a brush tip end and a regular "writing" end. 

The bonus here is that Distress markers react with water, exactly like the stamp pads do.

You'll need a mister filled with plain water. 

Using the brush end of the markers, I just colored areas randomly. 

Don't worry if your brush goes over a darker area, the colors will not contaminate -- just scribble a bit on a piece of paper and it will clean right off. 

This is what it will look like:

Ready for the magic??

I'm hoping these pictures give you a good representation of what happens--you can click on them to see it larger if that helps.

First, I just colored like above and just stamped like you would normally. 

This is what you get and it's pretty right?

But here's what happens when I color the stamp the same way but mist it with water. In this example, I literally misted from about a foot away from the stamp and just a couple tiny squirts---see how the ink is loosening up?

But here it is again, and this time I hit it with some serious water--much closer to the stamp and several squirts this time. The watercolor effect here is amazing--this time the colors really bleed into each other.

So there is one technique you can try with these new markers--give it a try--you'll feel like an artist!