Tuesday 26 March 2013

My first go at brayering

I succumbed and bought a brayer after seeing it demonstrated wonderfully at Ally Pally last September but hadn't dared use it until this weekend. I decided it had to be done after we went to the Hobbycraft show at the NEC and saw it demonstrated again. My friend Jennie had already tried and not had much success (after also succumbing after seeing the same demo) so I needed to see how hard it really was. Let's just say, it's no way near as easy as it looks! I do think though that maybe buying the cheapest brayer we could find was not the best idea - you probably get better results if the whole brayer touches the paper!! I did eventually manage to get an OK result just using the very edge of the brayer and glossy card - matt card was useless.

Here's what I managed to make:


I used Adirondack inks in juniper, bottle green and eggplant and all the stamps are from Lavinia Stamps. I embossed the fish in pearlescent gold embossing powder and added some stickles in various sparkly colours. I finished off by matting onto bottle green card and adding some gold ribbon and a gold brad.

I would like to enter this card into the Lavinia Stamps Challenge - Anything Goes

18 comments:

  1. Beautiful card Emma. I love your brayering. I've never quite managed to master this technique.
    Hugs
    Caz x

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    1. Thanks you :-) I'm not sure I've mastered it yet - still a lot of practise to do!

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  2. Love the colours in this...yeah I found brayering much harder than I thought it would be. Like the underwater theme of this card. Good luck!

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  3. What on earth is brayering? Never heard of it! Card looks gorgeous though so I'm very intrigued...

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  5. What on earth is brayering? Never heard of it! Card looks gorgeous though so I'm very intrigued...

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    1. It's how I created the gradient background. It's done using a roller and different coloured inks and its much harder than it looks!

      Hope you're having a great holiday!

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    2. Don't know why my comment posted so many times! You'll have to show me how to do it sometime, perhaps we can have a proper craft day one Monday in the May or Summer hols when Beth is at nursery.

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  6. wow this is stunning emma.i love your fab underwater scene :D

    xx coops xx

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  7. Well I think for a first attempt it is wonderful!! it is all in the lightness of the touch and the flick of the wrist m'dear :). I roll most of the ink off onto a bit of scrap paper first, then do a "wheelie" on the edge so you don't get a hard line and then you are away! but it looks to me like you have it sussed!. Many thanks for entering the challenge, I look forward to seeing future entries!

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  8. This is a great card Emma! I love 'underwater' scenes and this is lovely. Thanks for entering the Lavinia Stamps Challenge, good luck! Wendy, Lavinia DT xx

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  9. Love your card! I struggled for ages with getting the hang of brayering, then I watched this ladys videos, There are two. She is ace! I learned all the things I had been doing wrong!.http://mrslumpys.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/brayering-101.html
    Have a great week, Shaz xx

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  10. My Goodness, what a fantastic result for a first go!, there's me, tried once and didn't like it lol! think I should have tried Adirondak now I've seen your results! What a beautiful card! I love it!.x

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  11. Love the card, what a great imagination... love it

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