Brayered Skies by Bea Rosenleaf

Do you have a brayer that sits in your drawer because you don't quite know what to do with it?  I generally use mine with the multi-colored ink pads, such as the Kaleidacolors because it's easy to create great backgrounds.  There are so many other things you can do with a brayer!  Don't want to create backgrounds with the colors already in a Kaleidacolor, or other multi-colored, ink pad?  You don't have to!  Create amazing backgrounds using different colors and shades to give a look and feel of depth.  I'm still experimenting, but I thought I would share with you the cards I created so far using my brayer.  While these probably aren't my best works of art, they show the process to use. So get out your brayer, some inks and join me in the studio!

Finished card size:  5.5" x 4.25"

Supplies:
Stamps:
Winter Trees (Rubber Stampede)
Round Shadow Stamp (The Angel Company)
Papers:
1-8.5" x 11" Cream cardstock (Staples)
1-8.5" x 11" Ultrasmooth White cardstock (The Angel Company)
Black, Gold and Dark Blue cardstock scraps large enough for creating mats
Inks:
Light, medium and dark Blue  dye ink pads
Yellow and Orange dye ink pads
Light and dark brown dye ink pads
Other:
Autumn Flower Soft (Flower Soft)
3"x3" (or larger) sticky note pad
Make-up sponges or cotton balls
Adhesive of choice
Corner punch (EK Success)
4" rubber brayer (Speedball)
Glue (Elmer's or PVA)
Toothpick
Spray bottle with water

Directions:

1. Cut cream cardstock in half to measure 5.5" x 8.25". Fold each piece in half to make a card measuring 5.5" x 4.25".
2. Cut white cardstock into 4 pieces measuring 4.25" x 5.5".  Set aside two pieces for a future project.
3. Take 2 pieces of sticky note paper and tear the edges of the sticky portion to create an edge for the horizon.  Place these on the piece of cardstock next to each other to cover the bottom portion of the cardstock.  Note:  Always make a horizon a little bit higher or a little bit lower on the cardstock instead of across the exactly middle. This will create your focal area either in the sky area or the ground area of your image.
4. Ink the shadow stamp with yellow ink and stamp it over the horizon line to create either a setting sun or rising moon.  Create some depth in the image with a little bit of orange ink placed here and there using a cotton ball or sponge.

   

5. Stamp the shadow stamp on another piece of sticky note paper and trim out just inside the outer edge. Stick this over the sun/moon just stamped. (This is a technique called masking.)

   

6. Take the lightest shade of blue and run the brayer over the ink pad to load it with ink.  Start at the edge and bray over the piece of cardstock.  You can do this procedure several times if the ink is not dark enough.  Try to leave some white areas.

   

7. Take the medium shade of blue and repeat the above step, only move the brayer up a bit so the bottom portion of the light blue will not be covered.  Bray over the light blue, leaving some of the light blue showing through.

   

8. With the darkest shade of blue, bray over the upper edge of the previous colors.

   

9. To define the horizon, we are going to darken it up a bit using the darkest blue ink and a sponge (or cottonball).  Move the sticky note horizon mask down just a touch.  Pounce the sponge/cottonball on the ink pad to load it with the ink.  Pounce the sponge/cottonball over the horizon mask to create just an edge of dark blue on the cardstock.
10. Ink the trees with the lighter brown ink. Stamp off once on a scrap piece of paper, then stamp two times onto the cardstock, placing it up toward the horizon line. (This is called second-generation stamping.)



11. Ink the trees with the darker brown ink and stamp a little bit lower than the background trees. The darker ink makes them look like they are closer. By using the two colors of ink, depth and interest is added to the image.





12. Create a puddle of glue on a piece of scrap paper (or craft sheet, if you have one).  Using a toothpick, apply glue here and there on some of the trees. Sprinkle the Flower Soft over the glue.  I like to press it down to get it into the glue so it sticks well.  Pick up the card and shake off the excess.  Repeat until you get the 'leaf' look you want.  Last, create a couple leaf piles on the ground. Set aside and let dry.
13. Trim the image and mat to a darker piece of cardstock. Here I used dark blue.  Mount this to the card front.

At some point I will add a sentiment and send to someone.

For the second card, I did the technique a little bit differently.

1. Using the yellow ink pad, swipe it across the entire piece of cardstock. Make it darker in some areas, and lighter in others. It's okay to leave some of the white showing, too.
2. Load the brayer with the orange ink, by rolling it over the top of the ink pad. 
3. Spray the cardstock with water (don't make too wet), and brayer over the yellow with the orange on the upper portion of the cardstock (where you want the sky).  You may need to repeat this process several times to get the look you want. Let some yellow to show through.
4. I added a bit of light blue, which turned green, so I decided to use that at the bottom portion of my scene. Allow to dry well.
5. Stamp the back row of trees with light brown two times, without re-inking the stamp.
6. Stamp the front row of trees with dark brown and stamp in the center to make them the focal point of the scene.



7. Trim the scene to measure 5" x 3.75".
8. Cut a black piece of cardstock to measure 5.25" x 4".  Use corner punch on the upper left and lower right corners. Attach the scene to this.
9. Cut a gold piece of cardstock to measure 5.5" x 4.25" and attach to the card front. Layer the scene piece to this.
10. Add a sentiment or some embellishments and send out to someone special!

Note:  I highly recommend you use dye inks for this brayer technique.  I don't have any dye ink pads, so I used Palette ink pads by Stewart Superior. These are a hybrid ink...a combination of dye and pigment inks.  They don't blend as well as dye inks do.  Don't use pigment inks. They stay wet too long and if you try to brayer over them, you'll end up with a muddy mess!