What an exchange is

A print exchange on Brayer is a portfolio swap. A group of printmakers agree on a specification (size, paper, edition count, sometimes a theme), each pulls that edition, and everyone mails their prints to one address. The organizer sorts what arrives and posts a portfolio back to every participant: one impression from everybody else, plus a colophon that lists the whole group.

Two roles

The organizer creates the exchange, sets the specification, and runs it start to finish: sharing the join code, building the roster, tracking who has mailed prints and who has been paid, writing the colophon, and printing mailing labels.

A participant joins with a code, mails one edition to the organizer's address, marks their prints sent, and checks off the prints they receive from everyone else. You can be the organizer of one exchange and a participant in several others at the same time. Your list at /exchanges shows both, marked "You're organizing" or "Participating."

The stages

An exchange moves through a small set of stages, shown as a status word on the exchange and on your card in the list:

Stage	What it means
Draft	Being set up. Not visible to anyone but the organizer, and nobody can join yet.
Open	Accepting participants, up to the capacity the organizer set.
In progress	Full or closed to new joiners; prints are being pulled and mailed.
Complete	Portfolios have gone out and the colophon is ready.
Cancelled	Called off. The join code stops working.

The organizer moves an exchange forward with the stage selector at the top of the exchange page. Creating an exchange starts it as a Draft, unless "Open for joining right away" is checked, which opens it immediately. An exchange can be cancelled from any stage; the organizer has to confirm before that happens, since it locks out anyone who hasn't joined yet.

What the website does

Everything needed to organize or take part in an exchange works from a free brayer.app account, without the iPad app:

• Set the specification and share a join code, link, and QR code.
• Build the roster by hand or by importing a CSV, and track payment and submission status for each printmaker.
• Send messages to everyone or to one participant.
• Mark your own prints sent, with a proof photo, and mark others' prints received as they arrive.
• Print mailing labels and the colophon.

See Organizing on the web and Sending and receiving prints for the full walkthrough of each.

What the iPad app adds

If you also print on the app, an exchange connects to your project. Pulling the edition on iPad, Brayer numbers every impression, prints the carving guide at true size, and marks the ones you mail as gifted. Prints you receive from other participants land in your Editions inventory automatically, instead of you logging them by hand. None of that is required to organize or join an exchange. It's there if you're already printing the edition on the app.