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I love the look some of the techniques that use brayers and was thinking of getting one. But (as always) I would love your opinion on them before I do .
Do you consider it a useful tool? Is it a "must have"? How often do you use it?
For what it is, it seems a bit expensive. Do you know of an alternative, or a suggestion for a better price other than coupons?
I have a soft rubber brayer. I have used it a few times already, mostly for background stamps. They are so hard to ink up with the ink pads, so I ink up the brayer instead. Any leftover ink on the brayer, I roll onto white paper for later projects! And so far, I have just run it under the water faucet to remove the ink and then let it dry.
Yes, a brayer is a useful tool. I have a Speedball one. Aside from the fun techniques like brayered sky, bouncing brayer etc it's generally useful for spreading ink around! As Kathy says, great for inking up background stamps or large stamps with very fine detail.
I also use mine to ink up embossing folders to get colour on the low parts of the design (couple of examples attached in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). I find that inking the folder directly gives splotchy results, inking with a brayer gives nice smooth colour.
You can use a brayer to do mirror image stuff too - ink your stamp up (pigment ink works best), roll the brayer over and then roll onto your cardstock. The image will be reversed from the way it would be if you just stamped normally.
It's not something you're necessarily going to use every time you sit at your stamping table but when it's useful, it's really useful!
I have a couple of brayers. I use them to ink stamps with and if I'm modge podging then I use them to roll out the air bubbles after I put the paper down on the surface I'm covering.
I had never thought to use them on embossing folders!! Thanks for the idea~
I also use mine to ink up embossing folders to get colour on the low parts of the design (couple of examples attached in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). I find that inking the folder directly gives splotchy results, inking with a brayer gives nice smooth colour.
Joanne ~ those card samples are absolutely gorgeous!! TFS!!
__________________ There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but few will catch your heart. Pursue those.....
Joanne, your cards are really amazing. I love looking at your gallery because your creations are so beautiful! I really like your style, but I am nowhere near being able to create something like yours yet.
Yes, a brayer is a useful tool. I have a Speedball one. Aside from the fun techniques like brayered sky, bouncing brayer etc it's generally useful for spreading ink around! As Kathy says, great for inking up background stamps or large stamps with very fine detail.
I also use mine to ink up embossing folders to get colour on the low parts of the design (couple of examples attached in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). I find that inking the folder directly gives splotchy results, inking with a brayer gives nice smooth colour.
You can use a brayer to do mirror image stuff too - ink your stamp up (pigment ink works best), roll the brayer over and then roll onto your cardstock. The image will be reversed from the way it would be if you just stamped normally.
It's not something you're necessarily going to use every time you sit at your stamping table but when it's useful, it's really useful!
So beautiful! Thank you for your great ideas!!!! I have a brayer too (just got it) and I've used it a lot. I stamp a background with a versa marker, use clear embossing powder, dry it then ink over it with the brayer. The last card I did the background was snow flakes and I used blue ink so the snowflakes were white. It was beautiful!
Joanne, your cards are really amazing. I love looking at your gallery because your creations are so beautiful! I really like your style, but I am nowhere near being able to create something like yours yet.
You're very sweet, thank you! I don't really think of myself as having "a style" as I'm such a butterfly when it comes to crafty stuff - vintage or shabby chic one minute and CAS graphic the next! Don't do yourself down though, your gallery has some lovely stuff!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cdmac
I stamp a background with a versa marker, use clear embossing powder, dry it then ink over it with the brayer. The last card I did the background was snow flakes and I used blue ink so the snowflakes were white. It was beautiful!
Sounds great! I love emboss resist techniques and the brayer is perfect if you're wanting to do it over a large area - I bet this looked really pretty!
Definitely a good purchase! Like Joanne said, you won't need it all the time, but when you do, it is definitely a useful tool. I only have one Speedball, but I am contemplating buying more. Oh and like Kathy (muscrat) said, they are easy to clean.
I have two Speedball brayers. I took Michelle Zindorf's brayering class a couple of years ago and it was well worth it! I haven't used mine much lately, but I'm glad I have them in case inspiration strikes. They really are useful to have. I typically only use mine to do brayered backgrounds, but you can use them to ink larger stamps, embossing folders, etc. Here's a couple of cards I made using my brayers:
I think its one of those love it/hate it kinda tools. I don't use mine often but I would never get rid of it. That being said. I was recently given two by a friend who quit stamping. I will send you one if you would like it. No charge. Just PM me your address.
Yes, a brayer is a useful tool. I have a Speedball one. Aside from the fun techniques like brayered sky, bouncing brayer etc it's generally useful for spreading ink around! As Kathy says, great for inking up background stamps or large stamps with very fine detail.
I also use mine to ink up embossing folders to get colour on the low parts of the design (couple of examples attached in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). I find that inking the folder directly gives splotchy results, inking with a brayer gives nice smooth colour.
You can use a brayer to do mirror image stuff too - ink your stamp up (pigment ink works best), roll the brayer over and then roll onto your cardstock. The image will be reversed from the way it would be if you just stamped normally.
It's not something you're necessarily going to use every time you sit at your stamping table but when it's useful, it's really useful!
Joanne -- I've never heard of mirror image with a brayer! That sounds neat. I guess it only works with a stamp that only needs one rotation of the brayer??? I'm a little confused by it but I'm going to give it a try. Do you have a video demo of how to do this technique?
Yes, a brayer is a useful tool. I have a Speedball one. Aside from the fun techniques like brayered sky, bouncing brayer etc it's generally useful for spreading ink around! As Kathy says, great for inking up background stamps or large stamps with very fine detail.
I also use mine to ink up embossing folders to get colour on the low parts of the design (couple of examples attached in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). I find that inking the folder directly gives splotchy results, inking with a brayer gives nice smooth colour.
You can use a brayer to do mirror image stuff too - ink your stamp up (pigment ink works best), roll the brayer over and then roll onto your cardstock. The image will be reversed from the way it would be if you just stamped normally.
It's not something you're necessarily going to use every time you sit at your stamping table but when it's useful, it's really useful!
Thanks for reminding me to use a brayer for embossing folders. I have been forgetting and not getting good results lately! Gorgeous cards, btw!
__________________ Paula "The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don’t always spoil the good things, or make them unimportant. - The Eleventh Doctor
Joanne -- I've never heard of mirror image with a brayer! That sounds neat. I guess it only works with a stamp that only needs one rotation of the brayer??? I'm a little confused by it but I'm going to give it a try. Do you have a video demo of how to do this technique?
Sorry, no video camera here (and I'm camera shy as it is so not much chance of me getting one!). Yes, you need an image that can be covered by one rotation of the brayer but you'll find that's a suprisingly big distance! If you want to check, put a marker dot at the top of your brayer and starting at one end, roll across a sheet of paper until the dot appears at the top again - you can see from how far along the paper you moved how big an image will fit. The marker dot trick is also useful for keeping track of whereabouts on the roller your image is!
Yay, glad it worked out for you Misty! Any mirror technique won't give you the absolutely crisp outline you get with straight stamping but you can get some pretty good results. If I want to have both the original and a mirror on my project, I tend to do stamp off first and then use the second generation impression for my main image to get it to match the mirrored one better.
Yay, glad it worked out for you Misty! Any mirror technique won't give you the absolutely crisp outline you get with straight stamping but you can get some pretty good results. If I want to have both the original and a mirror on my project, I tend to do stamp off first and then use the second generation impression for my main image to get it to match the mirrored one better.
Yes, a brayer is a useful tool. I have a Speedball one. Aside from the fun techniques like brayered sky, bouncing brayer etc it's generally useful for spreading ink around! As Kathy says, great for inking up background stamps or large stamps with very fine detail.
I also use mine to ink up embossing folders to get colour on the low parts of the design (couple of examples attached in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). I find that inking the folder directly gives splotchy results, inking with a brayer gives nice smooth colour.
You can use a brayer to do mirror image stuff too - ink your stamp up (pigment ink works best), roll the brayer over and then roll onto your cardstock. The image will be reversed from the way it would be if you just stamped normally.
It's not something you're necessarily going to use every time you sit at your stamping table but when it's useful, it's really useful!
I love the brayering technique you used on the cards (beautiful by the way!) I've always been a tad intimidated by the brayer but I think I'm gonna give it a shot. such a useful little tool with amazing effects if you practice I imagine :-)
I hope it's ok to ask a brayer question here rather than start a new thread. I have a couple of silhouette type stamps. When I ink them with a pad there are always splotchy areas in the image no matter how I rub, tap, or anything else to ink the stamp. Is a brayer the remedy for this?
I read some where to use a pencil eraser on the dry stamp, and it helps. The stamp I had problems with was small, but it did help. Also, in the resource center there is a tutorial for Just Right stamps, but I think it might be worth a look at for you.
Brayer: To Be, or Not To Be?
