One of the workshops we enjoy offering is paper marbling. The art of marbling paper is the process of dripping various colors of ink or thinned paint onto a liquid surface. The earliest type of marbling started in 12th century Japan and is called Suminagashi, which means "spilled ink." India, Persia, and Turkey began using marbling techniques in their decorative arts in the 15th century. It wasn't until the 17th century that European artists began to marble.
In our marbling workshop we like to focus on two very different techniques. We start with a process involving shaving cream, food coloring, and our 100% post-consumer waste recycled papers. This is a really messy and fun way to marble that you can learn to do at home (if you dare!) Once we have everyone smelling thoroughly like a barber shop, we move on to Suminagashi. We use bottled inks to drop colors onto a water and methocel mixture, creating patterns that we carefully transfer onto our handmade cotton rag papers. At the conclusion of the class students end up with a totally unique, one-of-a-kind mix of marbled papers that they can use to make cards, art, books, etc. In addition to our regularly scheduled marbling classes, we'd love to teach some private group, or individual marbling workshops. Drop us a line at our email to discuss the possibilities.
The gallery below features photos from our last round of paper marbling. Enjoy!
Pulp & Deckle is a handmade papermaking studio located in Portland, OR.