Stamp it Up a Notch: Basic Brayer Techniques

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Use these basic brayer techniques to add a creative touch to your stamped cards and more.

Author: Catherine Matthews-Scanlon

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of brayer work in the Mixed Media art world. They’re using them to add color, texture, and so much more to art journals, paper projects and canvases. With a few basic brayer techniques, you can add the same texture and color to your stamped cards and other paper projects. 

Using the Inkadinkado Artistic Brayer Stamping Sets is pretty simple. The brayer handle has a rod that the roller is inserted on – making changing and clean-up easy.

1. To attach the roller to the rod on the handle, grasp the handle in one hand and the roller by the knob on the end in the other hand. Place the roller on the rod that is attached to the brayer handle. Give it a little spin with your fingers to make sure it’s attached correctly – you don’t want to have to make adjustments when the roller is covered with ink or paint.
2. Apply ink to the roller by rolling it through paint, ink, or other mediums to apply color to the rubber. Try to get as even layer of color as possible. If you are new to using a brayer, practice on scrap paper until you get the feel of it.
3. Place the roller on the paper, and roll across the surface to apply ink to the paper. Don’t apply to much pressure; you don’t want the roller to slide across the paper creating a smudged image. Roll as many times as you need to fill the paper.
4. To clean, spritz roller with ink cleaner, and run through a paper towel. Alternatively, you can rinse it lightly under running water, be sure to dry the roller completely before storing. 
5. Remove roller and replace with a new pattern.  

Using brayers is easy – and using them creatively is even easier. Here are some brayer techniques you can use to add these fun stamped patterns to your cards and paper projects:

• Spritz 2 or 3 different colors of spray inks on a piece of wax paper (it doesn’t absorb into the wax – pooling instead) and roll the brayer through the color. Move quickly to the cardstock you’ll be using on your project and apply the random colors to your paper. Repeat until you’ve created your own custom patterned paper to add to a scrapbook page. What a great way to create paper that matches your photos and embellishments perfectly.
• Use a multi-colored ink pad to get a more uniform look using multiple colors. You can get a pretty variegated look – great for pretty cards.
• Use watercolor ink pens to quickly color the roller, spritz lightly with water and apply the color to your paper.
• Water down acrylic paints to get a more opaque color to add to your project, pour into empty sprayer bottle and spritz on wax paper and roll through the color to apply to the roller. Watering down the paint and spritzing on the wax helps you get an even color with no blobs.
• To get a two-tone look; roll the solid brayer through an ink pad or single color and apply the solid color to the paper and let dry. Change the roller to one with a pattern; apply a different color to the roller and roll over the first solid color. 
• Roll each brayer pattern from the pack with several different ink colors on cardstock, creating multiple patterns on one piece of paper. Use a square paper punch (at least 1 1/2”) to punch a square out of the different patterns. Assemble the “blocks” on a card base to create a faux quilt. Stitch around each block for a more realistic quilted look. 

I’ve mentioned just a few of the fun brayer techniques you can use in your paper crafting, I’m sure you can think of A MILLION more!