What is marbling?

Marbling is the art of floating colors on liquid, arranging them to form a design and transferring the image by making a contact print. Marbling takes its name from the stone treasured by artists of all times: the marble. This is because some of the designs on marbled paper resemble the veins and ripples in marble. Other intricate line patterns result from a sequence of movements and the use of different tools which resemble combs.

Here are two samples of marbled paper: one which resembles marble and another one with a combed line pattern.

How marbling is done

If you decide to adopt this craft you must first get used to the idea that although there is a procedure that almost all marblers follow there are no set rules and only by practice and lots of patience you will find the formula that best suites you.

There are various marbling techniques each of which requires different materials (mainly colors and sizes) and of course delivers different results. The marbling method described below is the watercolor-carrageenan method which I consider the best and most complicated of all.

Please let me point out that this is by no means a marbling tutorial but a description of the marbling process. In the bibliography section you will find books which can help you learn marbling if you wish. Also in the "other sites" section you will find links to other marbling sites some of which give very good instructions.

All marblers would agree that the marbling process involves the following basic steps:

Make the size, or bath (that is the thickened water the paints will float on)

Mordant the paper so that the paint will adhere to it

Sprinkle the paint onto the surface of the size and allowing the colors to spread

Manipulate the paints into a pattern

Gently apply the paper on the size in order to lift the pattern

Rinse off the paper

Hang the paper to dry

Press it under weights

Clean the work area and tools for future use

MAKING THE SIZE

By "size" or "bath" we mean water which has been thickened to a consistency of syrup. In order to do this most marblers use a sea weed extract called "carrageenan". Carrageenan comes in powdered form and requires no cooking. One tablespoon of carrageenan gives about 3,8 litres of size. The size is made by blending carrageenan with distilled water and allowing the mixture to "mature" for 8 to 12 hours before use.

THE PREPARATION OF THE PAPER

Before a sheet of paper can be marbled, it must be treated with a mordant which will make it receptive to the marbling colors. A mordant is a chemical that combines with the paint and fixes it permanently on the paper. Marblers use alum, a generic term referring to three different kinds of salts: aluminum sulfate, potassium aluminum sulfate and ammonium aluminum sulfate. The alum is dissolved in water and then the alum-water solution is sponged on the sheets of paper to be marbled. When treating paper with alum, marblers make sure that the entire sheet is dampened with the solution because any areas that are not treated with alum will retain no paint. After the paper has been alumed it must be pressed and left for some time to "cure" before it can be used. Most marblers use it when it is slightly damp and not completely dry because it is then easier to lay on the tray.

THE PAINTS

There is a variety of paints used for marbling. Some marblers use specially made marbling inks, very finely ground colors that are designed for marbling. When marbling inks are not available gouache or watercolor paints can be used. These are water soluble paints easily obtained from any art supply store. Only by trial and error is it possible to find out which kinds of paint work well for marbling and which not. I personally use gouache paints which  I dilute with distilled water. I have also used with success watercolor paints which are supposed to be transparent and thus not suitable for marbling. This is another example of how one thing works for one marbler and not for another.

One may wonder how it is possible to use water-soluble paints on a liquid size. Don't they just dissolve in the size? How do they manage to float and be manipulated to a design? Well, this is where the most important ingredient is introduced and this is ox gall. Ox gall is bile from the gall bladder of a cow and it does two things. First, it enables the paint to resist the surface tension of the size and thus to float. Second, it surrounds each droplet of color so that it can't blend with a second color to form a third.

Once the paints are diluted with water ox gall is added drop by drop until the colors float and spread out into circles.

EQUIPMENT

The basic equipment needed for marbling includes the following tools:

• A tray: a shallow container for the size. It can be anything from a baking pan, a photographer's developing tray, a kitty litter pan or a specially made marbling tray available from marbling supply stores.
• Tools for dispensing paints: whisks, floppy brushes, eyedroppers and pipettes.
• Color containers: jars, cups or cans large enough to accomodate your brushes or whisks.
• Tools for manipulating colors: styluses and specially made marbling combs and rakes.
• Protective gloves or cream: to protect your hands from the toxic or irritating properties of some paints and alum.
• Skim strips: strips of newspaper to remove the paint residue that remains on the size after a print is made and clean the size before each print.

MAKING THE PRINT

It may seem funny but laying the paper on the size is a tricky business. It is more difficult than you may think. To make a successful print, it is important to handle the paper smoothly. Any signs of hesitation are visible in the finished piece as streaked areas, or air bubbles (that is unmarbled spots). There is a particular design known as "Spanish" which is made by deliberately moving the paper while laying it on the size. This is a particularly difficult technique which requires a lot of practice.

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