Last week I had a wonderful marbling session! After the angst of the last carrageenan disaster, I was a little bit worried about starting one, especially as I had a special order to work on. Specials are always a combination of fun and dread. Fun – to be working with someone else’s ideas and color palette, and dread that I’ll mess it up. This time the theme was purple, specifically toward the blue end of purple rather than the red. In looking over my colors, I realized that I had several red purples but only a tiny bit of Ultramarine Violet. I quickly ordered some and decided to try mixing some. Mixing colors when marbling is always a challenge for me. Some blend very nicely and float well, but others just don’t. Probably has something to do with the chemical makeup, specific gravity or density of the pigment. No clue. Anyway, this time it worked!
Here are my purples, maybe not quite 50 shades, but a couple dozen!
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- Purple on the line
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- Purple on the line
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- Making the paper
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- Selecting the perfect sheet
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- Selecting the perfect sheet
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- Selecting the perfect sheet
I did finish up with other colors and some fun.
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- Afew of the non-purple pieces
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- Illustrations from 1898 Fashion book
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- 1898 Hats
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- Waists?
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- Lovely marbled lady
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- Wonderful Victorian Tragedy
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- Sheet music cover
The first photos show some of the other colors I played with at the end of the session. The rest of the photos come from spoiled copy of a fashion and pattern magazine for August 1898. The incredible wasp waists fascinated me. I can’t imagine having to wear them. I love the color prints and don’t know what to do with them. I’m not going to marble them! The ones I did marble were black and white. The last two images are from my odds and ends. The first is from a Children’s magazine, “The Chatterbox”, which has lots of sad tales full of tragic heroines and Victorian morals. The last is the back cover of sheet music printed in 1915. Fun combination of interesting stuff!
To finish the week, I finally completed five little books I had started a while ago using the trimmings from larger books. All of them are roughly 4″ x 4″ and to make up for their small size, I made them thicker than I usually do. Even though they take almost as long to make as their bigger sisters, I find these fun projects.
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- Little Books
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- Front two have leather spines
Like the hearts and flowers! The tools and the garlands have leather spines.
Hello Nancy!
I just started marbling and your blog has been a great tutor to me! Thank you so much for keeping this up!
I have seen a particular pattern in many of your posts, that I love and have been trying to replicate. Unfortunately I am definitely missing something because I just can’t get it!
Would you be able to do a short description of how you make the pattern seen in #8, 9 or 12? The one that looks like locks of flowing hair ?
Thank you so much! And keep marbling!
Thanks for the compliment! I’m glad that you found my blog useful.
The pattern you like is really quite simple, but it can take practice to get it just right. First do a simple get-gel with the last pass going horizontal. Then, using a wider rake, make a single pass vertically in a straight line. Next put the tines of your rake in between the vertical lines and slowly “wave” the rake as you make a second vertical pass. Don’t let the tines cross over the vertical lines from the first pass, they should just barely touch them. I like to make the first vertical pass from the bottom to the top of my tray. That way I can see what I’m doing on the second vertical pass more easily. Play around with the second pass – tight waves or long waves, thin waves or thick waves. You can also try make the background get-gel different sizes. The beauty of marbling is that you can make hundreds of variations on a single pattern just by making small changes. After trying a dozen sheets, you’ll find the pattern that you like best.
Have fun with it!
Recap:
{First get-gel can be made with either a stylus or a rake/comb}
Vertical pass straight down
Vertical pass straight up
Horizontal pass straight right
Horizontal pass straight left
{The above is a standard get-gel}
{For the pattern, use a wide toothed rake/comb}
Vertical pass straight up
Vertical pass waved down
That’s it!
Happy marbling,
Nancy
Nancy, thank you so much for your quick reply!
So the reason I couldn’t get the pattern was because I was crossing over the raked lines! Now I know better! Such a small detail makes such a big difference!
Awesome! I will be practicing this pattern over the 4th break, can’t wait to make those beautiful flowing lines!
Thank you so much!