Tutorial: Make a Rainbow with a Brayer

Good day to you, friends!

Do you have a large background stamp you use in the same solid colour time after time? Why not try making it the star of your project rather than let it blend into the backdrop?

I bought the Medallion stamp (£16.95, 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue, p.78) because I knew I would need something to add dimension to my cards in the future, and I really liked the design. Usually when my new "toys" arrive, after spending a few days being so excited to get them and start crafing, I suddenly draw a blank and don't even know where to begin using them! I've learned to sketch out my ideas when they pop in my head now, or else they will completely disappear once the supplies are in front of me, which is what happened with this stamp. No matter, I put it on my shelf and went with what was fresh in my head at the time. But when I was experimenting with my brayer one day, an idea just struck me.

Now I'm not claiming to be original or to have invented this technique, more experienced brayers have probably already thought of this and it's old news to them. But on this occasion, the idea popped into my head on its own, no prior inspiration. And I felt like a genius. I love that!

I got out five of my ink pads, in colours that looked to me like they would mimic a rainbow. I chose: Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Delightful Daffodil, and Tempting Turquoise from the Brights collection (IBC p.91) and Perfect Plum from the Subtles Collection (IBC p.92). I picked up some colour from each ink pad, one at a time, onto my brayer.

I didn't want to cover the whole brayer with ink, as each time I put some ink onto the stamp I was only covering a small portion. No need to waste more ink than necessary. As I said before, I only applied one colour at a time, and thoroughly cleaned the brayer in between inkings.

Once I had my whole stamp inked, I breathed on it to moisten the ink which may have dried out by this time, and carefully placed my paper over the top and rubbed my fingers all over the back of it to make sure every part of the stamp had transferred.

When I peeled off the paper (I used Glossy White card this time, IBC p.95), I had a STUNNING rainbow Medallion!

Try it out! And let me know how you get on!

You can see the full tutorial on this card here*: https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.336371716424174.78716.335582926503053&type=3

*Make sure to click on the first photo of the album and view it by scrolling through each photo, as that is the only way to read the instructions.

Thank you for reading, and Happy Crafting!