Tim Holtz has finally brought his Distress line to pen form in 37 glorious colors. Distress Markers are a product I’ve long dreamed of, but assumed they hadn’t been able to formulate it to work. The exciting part is that I don’t have to wait long – the pens are now beginning to ship to retailers, and will soon be available at local stores as well as online. Today, I will be taking an in-depth look at these pens, and at various ways to utilize them.

At first glance Distress Markers appear to be just your standard pen. They have a brush tip on one end, and a fine detail point on the other. This is my preferred tip selection for dual-tip pens as it allows me to do larger areas and color stamps easily, as well as to write or do small areas. What makes these Distress pens stand out is that they behave exactly as Tim’s Distress ink pads and stains do. They blend with each other, are reactive with water, and can be used in any of the same ways or with the same techniques that you would use with the existing Distress line. This is really great because it means users don’t have to learn a whole new set of techniques. [Read more...]