I don’t know about you, but I had a brayer for a while before I knew how to use it. Once I started using it, I loved the effects I could get from it. Maybe you will too!
Use the Brayer to paint or ink your cardstock
A brayer is like a mini paint roller where the part of the roller is made of rubber. You can use it to cover large areas of paper, just like you would use a paint roller to cover large areas of the wall. Simply coat the roller in one color ink and roll it through your cardstock in one continuous motion, then roll it back and forth across the paper to lay out as much color as you like.
You can add more than one color of ink to your brayer at a time, of course, and roll it over your paper for a multi-colored effect.
Inking large stamps
Sometimes it is very difficult to ink a large stamp with the normal means of applying ink over it or hitting the stamp on an ink pad. Brayers can make a difference in your paper craft projects!
This is what to do:
- Place the stamp on its back on a scrap paper
- Ink your roller with the color of your choice
- Roll the ink in one direction over the stamp image, then roll it over the image from another direction until the entire image is inked.
- Keeping your stamp on the back, place your cardstock or paper over the stamp and lightly glide your hand over the image area
- Lift the paper straight off the stamp without twisting it or moving it sideways to ensure a crisp, clean result.
Depending on the type of ink or paint you are using, you may get several impressions of your stamp before having to re-ink it or load it with more paint.
Using paint
- Load your roller with paint
- Placing your stamp on its back on scrap paper, roll the paint over the stamp image
- Refill your roller with another paint color
- Pass this over the stamp, being careful not to mix the paint more than you would like.
- You can also put some paint on the stamp to highlight selected areas – experiment with re-inking inks or alcohol to see what effects you get out of them by putting them on the stamp
- Use the stamp as described above, laying your card stock over the stamp and smoothing the paper over the image
- You can also try spraying the paint or ink with water before taking the next print, to extend the life of your paint or ink.
You will definitely get multiple stamp prints when you use paint and a brayer, and each image will be slightly different from the previous one. It’s a great way to create a series of backgrounds for your cards, for example, or to make lots of scrapbook embellishments at once.
For more brayer ideas and images to show you what this page looks like on PaperCraftCentral.com where you’ll find it:
