I am thrilled to have finally sat down and swatched all of my beautiful Distress Oxides. I wasn’t sure how to swatch distress inks in a way that was usable to me, but I felt so creative during that time that I pulled together this really pretty Distress Oxide Swatchbook and I will absolutely be using it as I swatch my other supplies.
Distress Ink Swatching Video
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Ink Swatching Supplies Supplies Needed
- 1.5 inch binder rings (here are the 3″ ones I showed in my video)
- Watercolor Paper (or whatever you use distress oxides on most)
- Blending brushes
- Stencils
- Small stamp
- Paper Cutter
- Hole punch
- Thermal Label Maker (here’s the retro one I showed in my video)
Choosing Paper for Swatching Distress Inks
I chose a watercolor paper that I most often use with my distress oxides so that I could have a real, tangible idea of how my colors would look and behave. That said, I also use a lot of Neenah Cardstock 110# for cardmaking so if I’m feeling really adventurous, I might go back and add a swatch in for each color with that paper as well.
Creating Distress Oxide Swatch Templates
To create my swatch book I cut my watercolor paper at 2.5″ square and used a 1.5 inch binder ring. You could make these larger or smaller according to how you usually swatch your products. If you’re just starting out swatching, then it’s important to consider your space and ease of use for a swatch – do you have room to store an album of swatches? Is it easier to grab a ring of swatches?
Creating the 1/4 inch mask template
Take your paper and line it up at 1.25″ and make a small cut. Next, turn your paper around and line it up again at 1.25″ and make another cut. Use your scissors to finish the cut to remove 1/4 of the tempate.
Creating the Tabbed Templates
Cut your paper at 2.5″ X 2.75″ Mark 1/4 of an inch from the bottom left hand corner. Line the top part of your paper up at the 2.5″ mark on your paper cutter and cut to the mark you made. Finish it off with scissors if necessary. For each additional swatch add 1/4 of an inch. So swatch 1 with have 1/4 inch, swatch 2 will have 1/2 inch, swatch 3 will have 3/4 inch, etc.
Choosing How to Swatch your Distress Inks
I chose to swatch my oxides in the four ways I most use the products. If you use yours most for watercoloring, or another way, you might instead opt to add that to your swatch line up. You could also utilize the back of your card to swatch additional options.
