Rubber banded brayer technique

Use a brayer and  a couple of rubber bands, to create a unique painted pattern onto the fabric. The process, no matter how many times you repeat it, will always give you different results. 

What you need

• A brayer. A brayer is a hand roller used in printmaking techniques to spread ink on a surface. 
• Rubber bands (3 to 5 pieces). The rubber bands can be thick or normal or you can mix various types together. 
• Fabric paints 
• A plexiglass or a glass surface
• A piece of fabric 

1. The first thing you have to do is to pull the brayer apart, or in other words to remove the rubber part from the handle. Normally, the roller comes out from the handle, if you pull the rubber part and the handle in opposite directions. However, some brayer types, have screws at both ends, so a screwdriver is needed.  

Pull the brayer apart

2. Place some rubber bands around the roller. Spread them evently to cover the entire surface of the roller without many overlapping points. 

3. Put the roller back to the handle. 

4. With a brush, take some fabric paint and make a strip of paint onto a plexiglass surface or a glass surface or on any other sleek and smooth surface. 

5. Now, you must put paint on the banded brayer. Roll the brayer across the paint strip and lift it up. Roll it again and lift it up. The brayer must roll only in one direction and not back and forth, because if you roll the brayer back and forth only a small portion of the brayer will be covered with paint. 

6. Roll the brayer across the fabric several times. Either in one direction or back and forth. 

7. Put new paint on the brayer and roll again across the fabric. Repeat the process until you are satisfied with the result. 

8. When finished clean your brayer with water. 

The possibilities are endless and no matter how many times you'll repeat the process the result will always be unique. You can also tilt the brayer to make diagonal patterns or mix more that one colors.