How to Marble Paper

Day 81 Special

I just realized yesterday was the 80th day of daily vlogs. Today is day 81 and it’s going to be a cool one—you may have noticed the clothes lines behind me. Today we put them to use.

The Project

My wife is an author and recently finished her first book of poetry. We’re going to publish it ourselves—just a 100 print run. This is 100 lb cover speckle tone from French Paper Company. We’re going to make the backgrounds for our covers.

The Materials

Carrageenan is the key ingredient—ground up seaweed. This increases the water surface tension. It’s a gelling agent that makes the ink set into the paper and stay there looking good.

Kodak Professional Photoflow breaks the surface tension—you need a very small amount. This is what creates the cool cells.

For brushes: a big cheap calligraphy brush, two smaller paint brushes, and homemade bundles of plastic twine from a broom cut up with rubber bands. One bundle for every color. You do a flicking motion to create random drops.

The Technique

I tried to rush the carrageenan earlier and it wasn’t fully dissolved—the ink just went right to the bottom. Now you can see how viscous my water is. The ink stays right on top.

We make marble art by making rings. You can keep alternating colors back and forth for rainbow effects. Even how you’re moving creates patterns—you don’t have to do it all in the same spot.

The Kodak Photoflow is what makes those cool cells form. You can drag things through to change the design, blow it around, drag strings through it.

Traditional Patterns

In traditional book binding, they use pieces of wood with nails and drag them this way, that way, and back again to create uniform patterns.

Making the Print

Orient your sheet where you think it’ll capture the coolest pattern, push it down, give it a second, then pull straight up. The faster you pick it up, the less smeared shadow effect you get.

I learned all this because I used to make leather journals and was selling them before COVID. The place I sold them shut down, then my house flooded, so I never got back into it. That’s how I learned book binding, leather working, and paper marbling.

The Results

Here are all the covers hanging. You can get a ton of different effects:

• My favorite is not dragging anything through, just leaving the bubbles
• The traditional style shows how they drag through multiple times with nail boards
• This one is very Metroid-inspired

I’ll keep making some every day until we get to 100.

Quick Painting Update

For those here for miniature painting: three hours total on the Silena model. About an hour and a half on buckles and belt, another hour and a half of glazes on the tabard. Long way to go still—and she’s going to a painting competition next Sunday.

Cloaks and fabrics really kick my butt. I’m calling the tabard done for now, but there’s visible brush strokes. Cloth is going on my list of things to study. That’s really the point of this miniature—figuring out where I’m deficient.

See you tomorrow for day 82!