Welcome back to another installment of In Detail. In this post, I’m continuing my exploration of mists with a review of “make your own” mists and the Distress Marker Spritzer Tool. The previous In Detail posts on Spray Mists and Stencils may be of interest.
Let’s begin with a misting option that's simple to create, especially if you already own reinkers. I put a dropper and a half of Tumbled Glass Distress Reinker into a Mini Mister spray bottle and filled the remainder of the bottle with water. (The Mini Misters are also sold in packages of three.)
I sprayed the reinker mixture through the Tim Holtz Latticework stencil. I wanted to compare this mixture with Distress Stain, so I filled a Mini Mister with Tumbled Glass Distress Stain, without adding any water, and sprayed it through the same stencil.
Both the reinker mixture and the Distress Stain mixture sprayed evenly, providing good coverage. However, the mist created with the reinker is more watery. The color is also slightly lighter, although I suspect that could be corrected by adding more ink to the mixture. Conversely, you can make your color lighter by adding more water. To the touch, the tag sprayed with the reinker is slightly raised from the water.
Neither of the tags curled much in comparison to the curling that occurs with pre-made sprays. I wanted to compare the Distress Stain spray to Adirondack Color Wash, so I filled a Mini Mister with Faded Jeans Distress Stain and sprayed a tag with the Tim Holtz Clockworks stencil. I sprayed the same stencil with the Tim Holtz Adirondack Denim Color Wash.
Although the colors aren’t quite the same, the coverage achieved with the Distress Stain is comparable to the coverage from the Adirondack spray. Furthermore, the Distress Stain had fewer droplets. That being said, the Adirondack spray provides characteristics that sprayed Distress Stain does not. The Adirondack spray is permanent and can be used on fabric. But if coverage is all you’re after, then spraying Distress Stains offers an alternative, especially if you’ve already invested in the Distress Stains.
After playing with the Dylusions Ink Spray White Linen for the previous post on Spray Mists, I had a bottle that was less than a quarter full. White Linen is an opaque mist that comes in a spray bottle, which includes a metal ball to help with mixing the product before spraying.
With a Studio Calico eye dropper I added a dropper full of the Dylusions Calypso Teal Ink Spray to the White Linen bottle to make a light teal spray. If I’d wanted more color, I would have added more, one dropper at a time. Alternatively, I could have mixed several droppersfuls of the White Linen with one of the Teal in a 2 oz Inkssentials Mister, but I wanted the mixture in a bottle with a metal ball for mixing.
I sprayed the mixture through the Dylusions Floral Medley stencil yielding a subtly colored, but vibrant, opaque image. The mist sits on the surface because of the White Linen spray formula.
Next, I used the Gelatos Mist Maker Tool Kit to create a mist with a gelato. The set includes a palette knife, a dropper, two misting bottles and a metallic melon gelato stick. I followed the instructions for creating a mist from the package.
I cut a section of the Gelato off into a bowl and mixed with two full droppers of warm water.
I blended the Gelato my pressing on it with the palette knife until dissolved, and then added another two dropperfuls of warm water and dissolved it again.
I filled the misting bottle with the mixture using the dropper.
I created mists with the Metallic Melon color included in the set, as well as with a Cotton Candy one (included in the set of four Blue Gelatos).
If you’ve already got a lot of Gelatos in your supplies, then making mists with them is a logical step. It’s relatively easy to make the mist and you’ve got as many colors available as you have Gelato colors. The method described above did not make a lot of product. After applying the spray to a couple of tags, the mister was empty. Therefore, I can't comment about the shelf life of the Gelatos mist. If you wanted to make a larger amount of mist to begin with, you’d simply start with more of the Gelato and more water.
I sprayed the Metallic Melon Gelato Mist through the Dylusions Floral Medley stencil.
The Gelato mist created a light coverage with a fair number of bigger drops. The metallic Gelato gave a pearly sheen when dry.
I also sprayed the Cotton Candy Gelato Mist through the same stencil to compare its coverage and appearance with that of the Dylusions mixture and the Tumbled Glass reinker spray.
To continue my exploration of the mists, I painted an image stamped from the Dylusions How Does Your Garden Grow stamp set.
Let’s compare the Reinker mixture to that of the Distress Stain to color the image. Predictably, the Distress Stain provided more solid coverage. As discussed above, the reinker mixture could be made darker with a change to the ratio of reinker to water. Better yet, the Reinkers could be used without any dilution to color the image. Reinkers and Distress Stains work wonderfully for coloring images.
When comparing the Adirondack Color Wash to the Distress Stain to color, the Distress Stain gave more even, less blotchy coverage. The Color Wash product is permanent, whereas the Distress Stain is not.
The Gelato and Dylusions White Linen formulas can’t really be compared to one another. The Metallic Melon Gelato mixture gives a waxy finish when painted. The Dylusions White Linen mixture colors the image evenly.
For coloring, the Distress Stain and Dylusions White Linen mixtures were my preferences. Of course, the Gelatos could be used more easily for coloring by simply appllying the product to a craft sheet and picking it up with water. As already discussed, the Reinkers can be used for coloring without dilution.
I also splattered the sprays by flicking a small paint brush that had been dipped in each at full strength onto white cardstock.
For this application, my preferences in order: the splatters produced by the Dylusions White Linen mixture, the Gelato, the Distress Stain, and finally the Reinker.
Lastly, I wanted to try the new Distress Marker Spritzer Tool. This hand-operated product provides an airbrush effect.
I placed the Distress Marker into the tool, tightened the screw and spritzed a tag through the Crafter's Workshop Wildflowers stencil by squeezing the bulb pointing the end of the tool towards the tag, not the end of the marker. You can control the amount of marker ink that is applied by how hard you squeeze the bulb.
The tool is well suited for applying ink through stencils for an air-brushed effect, especially where you want to apply several different colors into relatively small openings, without a lot of overlap. However, it takes a fair amount of work to continuously squeeze the tool. Additionally, it’s not clear how much of the marker is being drained by using it to mist. The Distress Markers aren’t refillable, although they are fairly inexpensive. If you're already invested in Distress Markers and you're interested in an airbrush tool for occasional use, the spritzer is worth its affordable price. It's also much less messy to use than other spray mists!
--Jean
