Inna over at PaperRaindrops is a creative, artsy genius and also happens to be my sister-in-law. The Hubby and I spent Thanksgiving with my in-laws and had a great time with family. Inna and I are both non-football fans so we decided needed a project to keep us busy while others in the family watched a little of the sports channel. Inna picked out a fun project that looked very artsy but she assured me that even a non-artsy person such as myself could undertake this project with great results. The project she chose is called marbling and is pretty neat. The night before we were to marble we painted an alum and water mixture onto the paper we would be printing on. This alum mixture adheres the paint to the paper. The next day we placed in a large flat cookie sheet out and filled it with a carrageenan and water gel. We then dripped special marbling paint on top of the gel with straw brushes.
Then we passed a rake through the paint in certain patterns to create different effects.
After the swirls were complete, we laid a piece of paper on top of the paint and the peeled it off.
The paint comes off of the gel and adheres to the paper. The most bizarre part of this project was that when we had lifted up the paper we then immediately rinsed the paper to get rid of the gel. I thought for sure the paint would wash right off but once it is on the paper it is permanent. Our work of art was then hung on a drying rack. After each paper the gel was cleaned off and a new marbling was created.
We created many different prints. Here are a few that use different techniques: Peacock, Birdwing, and Nonpareil
These are called Stone Marbling and a liquid called gall is mixed in with some of the paint to spread it out in fun patterns.
The top left one below is called a French Curl and the others are made using a little stick and pulling or pushing the paint to create lips, a bird, and a flower.
What do you do with marbling? Well, I created a framed piece of art by tracing on a great saying and putting it up in my built in bookshelves.
I may also use it to make funky bookmarks and wrap gifts. It was a great Thanksgiving project and fun to do with another creative soul!
This post is linked to Lines Across My Face.
4:19 pm on December 1st, 2011
Ooh! I love the art piece you made with your paper! Looks amazing!
I guess I better get going on my marbling blog post, too, huh?