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Author: Shari, Contributing Editor
| Marbling is so much fun. I am by no means an expert, and I still have much to learn, but what follows are the basic techniques. Remember to experiment and have fun. WARNING: MARBLING IS ADDICTIVE. Persistent marbling may cause you to forget to eat, forget to feed your family and ignore your friends!!! Okay, seriously on to marbling 101. |
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| You will need the following:
1. A tray or "bath" deep enough for making the paper. I use an enamel butcher tray. 2. Carageenan (extract of Irish Moss seaweed) for making the "size". 3. Alum for coating papers. 4. Texoprint paper (from Marble Art), or other papers. 5. Tools:- Whisks, eyedroppers, combs, rakes, skewers and/or knitting needles (must be stainless steel) . 6. Latex gloves (optional). 7. Paints. 8. Newspaper strips for cleaning the bath between papers. 9. Drying rack (I improvise with clothespins and string). 10. Blender for mixing carageenan. 11. Styrofoam bowls for holding paints. 12. Plastic to cover floors, counters, table etc. 13. An apron is a must! 14. A rinsing board slightly larger than your paper. Masonite or Gator Board works well. 15. Distilled water. My butcher tray is 14 x 18 and I cut my paper to 16 1/2" x 12 1/2" (the paper is 25" long so I cut it in half). |
 | You will need whisks to apply color to the sizing which will be floating in the "bath". I made mine from an old broom and used a rubber band to tie the stems together. These are about 8" long. Each bristle will pick up a drop of paint and deposit it on the surface. You can shake it hard for bigger drops, or hold the whisk and gently tap it with your finger for smaller drops. |
 | You will need combs and rakes to make your patterns.
This is a bouquet comb for a specific pattern of bouquet or peacock. Most of my rakes and combs were home made but these can be obtained from Marble Art (Galen Berry) One of my combs is just a cardboard sandwich with toothpicks glued into the middle about 1/4" apart. Another is a piece of molding or framing that my husband put nails in at 2" intervals. One of my combs is made with silk dressmaker pins. The nails must be rust proof. It is good to have combs and rakes of all sizes. The variations in size determine patterns. I recommend combs spaced 1/4" and 1/2" for starters and rakes spaced 1" 2" and 3" apart. The bouquet comb is a double row of staggered nails. You will also need a bamboo skewer and I like to use stainless steel knitting needles of different thicknesses to make patterns. This will be explained further on. |
| Paper is very important. You can use all kinds of paper such as watercolor, canson, and masa rice paper but THE VERY BEST PAPER IS TEXOPRINT. I only use Texoprint paper now, as it is the most reliable. I get this from Galen Berry at Marble Art. Texoprint is 25" long and I cut it to measure 12 1/2" x 16 1/2" to fit my 18 x 14" butcher tray. |
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