Turkish Paper Marbling

How to do the turkish art of marbling.

Turkish paper marbling.

A fascinating process once used to create endpapers for books but also an art technique on its own. The placement of paper on the size is extremely important. The patterns are the result of color floated on either plain water or a viscous solution known as size and then carefully transferred to an absorbent surface such as paper or fabric. Marbling paint makes marbling easy.

It adheres to a variety of surfaces including 3 d objects and fabrics. Marbling is painting in water and then transferring it to paper. As accordingly a paint with too much ox gall will not allow other colors to spread atop it. Ebru a paper marbling method that originated in turkey and central asia involves a thick liquid called size made from substances such as cornstarch.

On a trip in kuwait i saw a woman from turkey demonstrating the turkish art of marbling. Paper marbling is a method of aqueous surface design which can produce patterns similar to smooth marble or other kinds of stone. In this method the liquid has to be thickened because the colors used are water based and would otherwise not float. Carrageen is added as a thickener to water and special paints that don t dissolve in water are used.

Marbling is the technique of creating multicolored swirls or stone line patterns on the surface of your choice. If it s too thick the paper will push away the pigment when you gently lay your sheet onto the pigmented water. The paper must be laid onto the surface in one smooth motion to prevent bubbles and lines. The turkish art of marbling ebru marbling is the art of creating colorful patterns by sprinkling and brushing color pigments on a pan of oily water and then transforming this pattern to paper.

The art of turkish marbling is totally mesmerizing. Through several centuries people have applied marbled materials to a variety of surfaces. It s meant to imitate the swirling designs found in marble and other types of stone. The best paper for marbleizing is thick enough to be absorbent while standing up to the water bath but not so thick that it s inflexible.

The special tools of the trade are brushes of horsehair bound to straight rose twigs a deep tray made of unknotted pinewood natural earth pigments cattle gall and tragacanth.