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"Marbling is the art of
printing multi-colored swirled or stone-like patterns on paper or
fabric."
"Marbling is sometimes still called by its original
Turkish name, ebrū."
Marbling is a fun and easy art; no artistic talent at all is needed.
Unlike many artforms which take years to master or even to get good at,
marbling seems like instant gratification -- you can produce some very
fine papers on your first few tries, as long as you have decent
instruction (which I didn't.) Children love to do it, because it's
simple to learn and they can get fine-detailed results that don't look
elementary like most children's arts. But it's also an art that can grow
with you -- there is such an infinite variety of patterns and color
combinations that it never gets boring. Even after doing it for 12
years, I frequently amaze myself by coming up with new designs I never
thought of before, and perhaps nobody else ever has either. And it's a
fairly cheap artform too; the necessary supplies aren't nearly as
expensive or as extensive as those needed for many other arts. It can be
done in a garage or a small art studio or work room, or even (on a small
scale) in a kitchen. Besides bookbinding, marbled papers can be used for
picture framing, placemats, notecards, desk sets, collages, origami,
lampshades, and for covering just about anything such as boxes and
cans.
Today, artists use
acrylic paints that flow and spread over a liquid water surface. Combining
the knowledge of fluid mechanics with artistic talent, the artist controls
the floating pigments through the viscosity and surface tension of the
water to create images suggestive of mountain ranges, landscapes, clouds
and animals before printing them on a sheet of paper.
Marbling on fabric was never very satisfactory until recent years,
until the development of acrylic paints. The traditional marbling inks
were just not durable enough to stand up to washing. Now, though, fine
marbling can be done just as easily on cloth as on paper with these new
paints, and the colors are much more vivid and brilliant and
long-lasting than ever in the past. The best fabrics to use are natural
fibers, such as cotton and silk, since they will absorb the color better
than artificial fibers.
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