Lots of people remember having a go at marbling as children. This is usually floating oil colours on a tray of water, swirling them round, and lifting off a print by laying paper on to the surface of the water. It is fun, but the traditional marbling technique is even more satisfying as you have greater control over the marbled designs.
Traditional paper marbling
I started experimenting with traditional marbling, using acrylic paints on a water bath with thickening in it, about 10 years ago.
I quickly became addicted as the results are much more sophisticated and the scope for controlling the paint takes the childhood method to a whole new level.
This post is a general introduction to paper marbling, with examples of some of the things I have tried, traditional and otherwise! The illustrations are all from my marbled paper sample book, assembled over many sessions….
A brief history of paper marbling
Japanese Suminagashi marbling
‘Suminagashi’ means ‘ink-floating’ in Japanese. In this technique the ink is moved on the surface of plain water by blowing it.
This is believed to be the oldest form of marbling, originating in China over 2000 years ago, and practiced in Japan from the 12th century.
Turkish Ebru marbling
Turkey has a strong tradition of paper marbling, known as ‘Ebru’. The highly patterned papers were often used a a background for official documents to prevent forgery.
Turkish artisans developed beautiful distinctive marbled flower designs which are very popular today.
European paper marbling
The techniques spread from the far east along the Silk routes, reaching Venice, and then France, Spain and Britain.
Marbled papers were mainly used in European bookbinding from the 18th century onwards. Many of the patterns resembled stone marble, hence the name ‘marbling’.
What is the appeal of paper marbling?
1. It’s a mixture of science and art
The big question is; ‘How can water-based liquid colours float on water?
One answer would be ‘by magic’ and part of the appeal of marbling is this sense of magic and mystery.
However, with a more scientific hat on, another answer is ‘due to surface tension’. When you have the water bath and the paint solution in balance the colours move around gently in response to your manipulation; they don’t mix and they don’t sink. The paint swirls and flows as the water moves forming patterns which are deeply satisfying as they have a logical organic structure.
Needless to say this magic doesn’t just happen; preparation is everything, and the final results are influenced by environmental conditions, humidity, temperature, mix of materials, as well as your state of mind.
2. It produces a calm state of complete focus
To be successful you must relax and go with the flow, it is easy to slip into the state of mind where you are one with the materials and process. Because it is possible to become so absorbed in the swirling patterns, marbling can be very relaxing and restorative. People have commented that they completely forget everything that is going on in their lives and simply lose themselves in the process.
3. It connects you with ancient traditions
Paper marbling has a long history and you will find a tradition to follow, and rules to learn. Paper marbling techniques travelled from the far east along the Silk Roads through Turkey and along to Europe. Different traditions developed over time, and the marbling artists kept their secrets closely guarded, so the mysterious process used to be shrouded in secrecy. Now the information is more easily accessible, and we have modern ready-mixed acrylic paints a lot more people are discovering the ancient craft. It is an enjoyable challenge to test your skills and try reproducing some of the traditional marbled paper patterns.
4. You find a sense of achievement and mastery
To achieve consistently interesting results takes a lot of work and practice; there is a real sense of pride and wonder at the finished results, which could not be achieved any other way.
Having a go at Paper marbling
When I run marbling workshops I find that, while everybody can produce a good result without much practice, some people become really hooked and go on to become very skilled with the technique.
Often people experience a wonderful satisfying moment of revelation when they just ’get’ it, after this there is no stopping them!
What to do with a mountain of marbled papers?
During the course of mastering the traditional marbling techniques you can produce huge quantities of decorative papers! The question then is what to do with them.
In Europe marbled paper was/is traditionally used for bookbinding. It is always a delight to open an old book and discover marbled end papers inside. I have used it for artists books and origami boxes , amongst other things. A stock of marbled paper is a brilliant resource to have for all sorts of projects so don’t throw away any experiements!
“Tides” a series of contemporary marbled panels
Once I felt I had an element of control, I wanted to challenge myself and create some more contemporary work with marbling.
As part of a residency, I developed a series of eight marbled panels inspired by the idea of ‘Tides’. Each 100cm high panel represents a different aspect of the tide on the beach, from low to high.
These formed part of an exhibition at a seaside festival, along with community marbling workshops to make marbled paper and also marbled beach pebbles.
Eight ‘Tide’ marbled paper panels
Close up details of the marbling on the ‘Tide’ panels
What next?
Paper marbling seems to resurface into my life at different periods and take over everything else. At the moment I am playing with ideas for combining lithography with marbling, its too soon to say what will happen yet but you can expect more posts on the marbling theme…..
More marbling workshops and demonstrations are in the pipeline – sign up to my ‘courses’ newsletter to get advance information about these.
9 thoughts on “Paper marbling”
loved these! what is the thickener?
I generally use Tylose Powder – more info on this coming soon!
This looks great! What paper do you recommend?
You can marble on lots of different surfaces – as long as the paper is strong enough to get wet and not too shiny it should work fine.
Thank you, you have inspired me to do some more marbling and experiment
Beautiful papers and interesting post. I never have much luck with Sumigashi- the ink refuses to sit on the surface, but I have enjoyed oil marbling. Since I have a great collection of acrylic paints this is something I’d love to explore.
getting the ink and the bath balanced right really is the big challenge with marbling, it just takes a bit of fiddling around with dilutions and adding dispersant (eg washing up liquid)
Interesting. I wondered if you’d tried marbling with oil paints, and if so, how do the acrylics compare.
I have tried marbling with oil paints, just on a plain water bath though so it is very different, and not so controllable. In my experience the patterns and details are much finer with acrylics. Have you a preference for one over the other yourself?