50 Ways to
Love Your Brayer RUBBER: 1. Stripes:
using markers, make stripes on your brayer (this works best if you lie it on its back and turn the roller while holding the
marker) all the way around until the beginning and ending stripe meet. Roll
brayer across your paper in whatever direction you desire. 2.
Squiggles (technical term): Repeat the same process as for Stripes but make
wavy lines instead of straight ones. 3.
Confetti/Dots/Raindrops: Randomly make marks on your brayer with your marker
(you can use different colors) all over the entire roller. Then roll away. 4. Plaids:
Same as with the markers for Stripes except criss-cross
pattern. 5. Plaids:
You could also outline the stripes for your plaids with the smaller tip of
your marker to make the plaid/stripes stand out more. 6. Plaids:
Rainbow/Kaliedacolor plaids are made with the
brayer being rolled over a KC pad several times then brayering
over your paper. Repeat as necessary for the desired depth of color and
surface coverage. Then repeat the process in the opposite direction. 7. KC
Backgrounds: Same as above just don't create a plaid design. This works great
for those scenery/landscape cards. 8.
Reverse/mirror Image: Color your stamp, rubber side up and roll the brayer
over the image several times, then roll over your paper (works great with
trees, flowers etc). You can also add this technique to the above KC
backgrounds for a great scenic card. 9. Mirror
Image: If you have an image that you want to face each other say the Pig from
Farm Fun… you would brayer over the stamp like above and then roll onto your
paper then stamp the original pig image nose to nose with the first. 10.
Kissing: Brayer over a background stamp like Pindot
Plaids then use your other stamps like the Seasonal Solid and stamp onto the
background stamp then stamp onto your card stock - your solid stamp now has a
design and you have just multiplied your uses of one set. 11.
Ghosting: Stamp an image on your card (say the Snowflake from the
"Snowflake" set) several times in clear embossing ink. (DO NOT
EMBOSS) Then brayer over your invisible images with regular dye pad and your
snowflakes will start to appear. 12. Resist:
Works best with glossy paper. You will need to choose your resist medium;
ink, wax or other. I tried with the metallic pens. You color on the glossy
card stock with the pens in any way, or pattern you choose then you use the
same technique as the ghosting by brayering over
with a different color. The pattern that you drew or colored will not let the
brayered ink absorb through the card stock
therefore comes the "resist". (This
category could actually count for about 10 different ways to love your brayer
as you are only limited by your imagination on what you choose as your resist
medium) Others to
try: 13. oil
colored pencils (work best with regular matte finished papers); 14.
crayons; 15. wax
paper; 16.
metallic pens; 17. ink; 18. resist
ink; 19. emboss
ink (try the emboss pens to write a hidden message); 20. rubber
cement; 21. masking
fluid; 22. white
out/correction pen; 23. Gel
pens; 24. wax
resist sticks; 25. Deka paint (for fabric - much harder to do). 26. Another
"Resist" able technique: crumple a piece of wax paper; iron (on
hottest setting/no steam) wax paper onto white card stock (be sure to use an
additional sheet of card stock between the wax paper and iron); press for
only 2-3 seconds - this will transfer the wax to both sheets of card stock
(if you iron too long the wax will be absorbed into the paper) Ink your
brayer and then brayer over card stock. The brayer will resist laying color
where the was paper has left its design (makes a great background paper) 27. Another
variation to the above is to use your stylus tool and with the wax paper on
the card stock use the tip of your stylus to write your own message or draw
your own design - brayer over to reveal your design or message. 28. Use
your brayer for those big background stamps to get an all over inking. 29. You
could also use the same technique as above for those bigger solid images that
you want to emboss. Brayer over the image with the emboss pad for an
even/smoother finish. 30. Put a
piece of cheesecloth down and brayer over the cheesecloth for a different
effect. 31. Try the
same as above with lace doilies. 32. Lace 33. Bubble
wrap 34. Brayer
over a leaf (two ways to do this: place card stock over leaf or other nature
finds and bring out the textured surfaces below; or use the reverse/mirror
image technique to pick up the pattern of your nature find.) 35.
Joseph's Coat: Brayer with a KC pad and cover the
entire area of your card (glossy works best). Emboss your image with clear
embossing powder/ink on top of the area colored (this technique works best
with the more solid image stamps like the tent from Roughin
It or the Kids Prints). Then ink your brayer with Black or Navy (the darker
the better) and cover the entire card again with this new color. Let the
overcoat of ink dry, then buff the card with a paper towel to remove excess
ink. What happens is that your KC color will then shine through. Just think of a great landscape card with
stars in the sky and trees) WOW!! 36. Ink up
your brayer with embossing ink and roll over the entire card then emboss with
clear powder. 37. Brayer
an intense/brilliant color on glossy card stock then use a speckle background
stamp and clear emboss ink, stamp then emboss with Rainbow Razzle or other multi colored emboss powder. When you
heat it will bring out the beautiful play in colors. 38.
Watercolor brayer: Ink your brayer with a rainbow pad or markers, then spritz with a water bottle, then roll out for a very
pretty watercolor look. LUCITE/ACRYLIC: 39. Put
rubber bands around your brayer for unique background 40. Wrap syran wrap around your brayer for another unique
background 41. Try
fabric netting or the netting from bags of oranges or marbles as above. 42.
Cheesecloth another unique background 43. Try
string 44. Yarn 45. Crochet
yarn 46. Try the
new Encore pads and rolling it out onto liquid appliqué for a faux suede
look. 47. Use
your acrylic brayer to roll out paperclay 48. Use
your acrylic brayer to make sharp creases in your card stock 49. Crinkle
up a piece of Mulberry paper, ink up your brayer with the new Encore pads and
give your Mulberry paper that guilded look. 50. Faux
Suede - squeeze brown liquid appliqué on wax paper or aluminum foil. Roll the
brayer until it is coated and smooth. Roll and even coat of the liquid
appliqué on your cut out image (try the gingerbread man die cut) let it set
for a minute then heat. This will give you a nice suede feel. Try it with
different colors. But be sure to clean your brayer right away. 51. Use
your acrylic brayer with pigment ink on glossy (takes a little while to dry)
don't roll use a quick sliding motion to brush the inked brayer across the
card stock, wiggle if you want (the brayer silly!) You can make some awesome
plaids or sunbursts. 52. Try the
same technique above but tap the brayer around in different areas for an all
over colorburst. FOAM: 53. Use
your foam brayer for an all over airbrush effect. 54. Use
your foam brayer with your stencils. 55. Use
with the KC pads for rainbow effect. 56. Use
your foam brayer with markers for an interesting look. I've heard that you
can make some great tortoise shell, leopard or gemstone looks on glossy card
stock. 57. You can
also use the spritz technique with the foam brayer
for a watercolor effect. |