A hands-on approach and what I've learned
In a previous post from a couple of years ago I wrote about my first encounter with marbled paper and the desire to someday get to make some myself. Well, the past two years have been like a whirlwind and as some of you might know, we've changed continents, as after retiring we "packed our bags" in Romania and returned to US.
All the tools I had made for producing marbled paper were in a shipment that was five months late in arriving to the US - as the shipper jokingly said, "It must have gone around the world two or three times" - but finally this summer I had a chance to try them out.
I found Diane Maurer Mathison's book, "The Ultimate Marbling Handbook: A Guide to Basic and Advanced Techniques for Marbling Paper and Fabric", and it's an excellent tool that gives clear instructions for marbling with watercolor paints, oil colors, and acrylics, as well as troubleshooting and experimentation with non-traditional techniques.
The marbling colors I used are acrylic paints from Dharma Trading Co. and are good for either paper or fabric marbling. I wanted to marble paper, and since I had a pad of 90 gr. Fabriano paper, I used that. The paper needs to be treated with alum in order for the colors to adhere to it, and it's a good idea to do that step, as well as prepare the size, one day ahead. That allows the paper to dry and the bubbles in the size to dissipate.
Paper marbling can be messy, with droplets of color flying where you don't want or expect them to, so in order to avoid getting in trouble with the owner of the ironing table and everything else around (as I did) due to the multicolored speckles all over, it's a good idea to cover everything around your work table with drop cloths or newspaper and also have a bucket handy for the newspaper used to skim the size. Lastly, you'll need a source of water for rinsing the papers and a surface for laying them flat for drying.
Since the materials come with instructions, I won't go into the preparation of the alum and the size. As far as the patterns, I started out with a traditional Nonpareil, then experimented with a Rock pattern and some non traditional ones like Moire and the Wave.
Here I'm applying colors straight from the bottle
The size is good for about three days and then it becomes murky due to some of the sinking colors, which can be caused by color being too thick. This is easily remedied by adding a few drops of distilled water and mixing it thoroughly. If the colors don't spread as they're supposed to, a drop or two of ox gall or photo-flow might be added. And if too much size sticks to the paper when lifted, a sign that the size is too thick, adding some distilled water should fix that as well.
The first pass with the rake...
And the second pass...followed by a different rake pulled in an "S" pattern for a "wave".
Ta-da!
Some of the better pieces from my first attempt at marbled paper.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and the excitement of every time I lifted a paper and saw the swirls and patterns of color. But then the question arises, "Now what?" So stay tuned for the next post, in which I'll explore some ways to use marbled paper!
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