Brayering - Quick and Beautiful

Welcome.

Today I have something new for my technique toolbox: brayering. When my friend Lisa came to visit, she brought her brayer, along with some lovely ink pads - and access to a YouTube video tutorial on how to make this gorgeous card.

Now, I was completely new to this technique, and I found it quite fast for the effect it achieved. The first task was to punch a circle mask and adhere it to the card stock where we wanted our sun.

Next, we cleared the table top to avoid ink splattering on any other papers, and then rolled the brayer over the first ink pad. We started with the lightest color first (Crushed Curry) and rolled the entire surface of the card stock (white). Then we cleaned the brayer and applied a second ink color (Dusty Durango), rolling horizontally to leave some of the light color at the bottom; we took the darker color (Bravo Burgundy) all the way to the top in successive rolls.  A few horizontal striations just above the mountains give you a sense that all was not perfectly blended. Still, the effect is not distracting.

The next step was to tear some scrap paper to form the mountains. This was placed on the image above the area to be rolled, and the bottom area was brayered in a brown color (Close to Cocoa) to form a mountain. We then moved the torn paper and slanted it a different direction to form a mountain range - and brayered once again.  I was really excited at this point, as this technique was pretty close to idiot proof! 

Once the ink had dried to a large degree, the sun mask was removed and a bit of additional color was sponged on the sun to match it to the rest of the card. Then, the reeds were stamped using Stampin' Up's Inspired by Nature stamp set. We used simple black ink (Tuxedo Black Memento), although we might also have used Versamark and then black embossing powder.

Finally, a number of birds were drawn in with a black Sharpie pen. This was a fun finishing touch, as we were both able to decide for ourselves where our birds wanted to fly! The whole image was layered with a light-colored mat (More Mustard) card stock, and then taped to Bravo Burgundy.

It seems to me that it took longer to type this post than to make this card! So, never believe that beautiful has to mean complicated or lengthy. I'm very pleased with my result, and I will surely use this technique again.

Please also drop by my friend Lisa's blog to see her matching card. Lisa loves to scrapbook and has become a real YouTube sensation!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you'll join me again.  Blessings to you and yours!

Using Masks to Test Color Options

Hi. Today's tip is really simple - but ultimately very useful.

Last Friday, I introduced you to Humble Anneke. As I worked to complete my project with Anneke, I had to make some decisions. One of them was about color.

I started with Anneke's hair and skin, and then progressed to her clothing. I knew I wanted a blue-violet "apron," as well as a contrasting yellow color. But when it came time to decide whether to use white for the main color and add yellow polka dots, or use a yellow base with white dots, or some other combination, I just couldn't decide.

Now, after you've spent a tremendous amount of time coloring, you don't want to mess something up and be unsatisfied with it! After a few minutes, the perfect solution came to me: test out the combinations before adding them to the actual image!

So, I pulled out my brand new, unopened Copic bleedproof marker pad and used a multiliner pen to trace the appropriate part of the image. I repeated this a couple of times. I colored the images with different color combinations and then fussy-cut them out. I placed the pieces on the image one at a time and chose my favorite one. Then I colored the actual image with my choice.

Testing color options using masks



Final color choice after testing

If you don't happen to have a Copic bleedproof marker pad, don't worry. You could just as easily use vellum to trace or stamp your image, then color and cut it out. Take care though; vellum may have some bleed through, and if you're tracing on your original image, you could ruin it.

My final color choice was slightly different from both masks. I ended up using a very pale yellow (Yellow Fluorite, Y0000) base, with darker yellow polka dots, sash, and bows (Y23, Y32, and Y35).

I also attempted to draw in a cast shadow to ground Anneke on the card stock, but had a bit of a mishap there. So, I ended up fussy-cutting her, too. As you might imagine, cutting out Anneke changed my idea for the card, so please be patient with me as I move toward a completed card. I'll post it just as soon as it's complete.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you find today's tip helpful, and I hope you'll join me again soon to wrap up this project. Peace!