Japanese Soft Rubber Brayers
28 durometer (softer) Japanese Brayers in five sizes
Ideal for relief printmaking, these sturdy, well-made brayers use tough Nitrile rubber rollers on a hard plastic core, held by a metal frame with a wood handle. The handle of the smallest size, B4800, is plastic.
Nitrile Rubber will not deform under normal conditions, so these brayers are designed to sit on the roller. A nifty metal piece tilts the handle up out of the ink so your hands stay clean.
The 45mm diameter rollers will roll out 5 1/2" of ink without a lap mark; 50mm rollers will roll out 6 1/8".
Replacement rollers are available for all sizes except for the smallest 1 1/8" wide brayers, which are not made to come apart.
The rollers come in 28 or 60 durometer hardness (Speedball brayers are 35). Most printmakers prefer the softer 28 durometer rubber because its flexibility makes it easy to ink the block evenly. The harder 60 durometer rubber brayer is less apt to dip into carved areas and can put down a thinner layer of ink, so they are useful in emphasizing grain patterns in the wood.
60 durometer rollers are red with a red plastic handle, while the softer 28 durometer rollers are dark gray with a wooden handle, so it is very easy to tell which is which.
Use with oil based or water based inks, including Akua Liquid Pigment modified with Tack Thickener and Akua Intaglio. You might want to keep one set of rollers to use with water based ink, and another set for oil based ink. Clean with Gamsol when using oil-based inks, Dawn dishwashing liquid when using water-soluble or water-based ink. The roller on all brayers except the smallest 30 x 45mm ones can be removed for cleaning or replacement.
Long exposure to UV light will cause nitrile rubber to crack, so if you won't be using them for a while, store the brayers in a box or cupboard away from the sun or florescent lights.
Japanese Soft Rubber Brayers
*These Japanese Brayers are no longer available. Our supplier in Japan is looking for a new source of brayers similar to these. It will probably be mid- to late fall before everything is settled, the brayers are shipped and finally arrive here. Please check back later. If you wish to be notified when the new Japanese Brayers are back in stock, please send an email to orders@imcclains.com.
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