Marbling Paper - easy but stunning art activity for kids and adults!
Marbling paper is great fun - and in only a matter of an hour, you will end up with beautiful marbled pieces of paper! It is a really easy activity to do, very accessible for both children and adults. My neighbours and I often get together to do crafty activities with our kids - and everyone enjoyed doing this. Here are my tips for a successful marbling session.
1. Use a kit!
At first, I experimented with trying to create my own marbling paints, using various tutorials on the internet - it was really difficult! I tried 3 different methods, and none of them worked. Either my paints sank, or they did not disperse, or they used a recipe involving strong solvents. In the end, I bought 2 kits on sale at the Range at £2.49 each. They provided everything we needed, and it worked a treat! The only other item I bought was a pack of high quality watercolour paper - 300gsm. If you want to avoid curled paper, invest in watercolour paper of this standard.
2. Remember to make the bath in advance...
To marble paper, you have to float drops of ink on the surface of a shallow bath which is filled with thickened water or 'size'. No matter if it is a kit or your own recipe, this tends to have to be done hours in advance. Our kit used seaweed carrageenan as a thickener, and was best prepared the night before. It is also useful to make some extra size in case some baths get a bit tainted with too much ink.
3. Different colours of inks have varying strengths and disperse in different ways...
Some of the inks in our kits had a light, very delicate colour - and they tended to disperse quickly and over a large surface area. These turned out to be really good as background colours. The stronger colours inks tended to be more viscous and needed manipulation with a comb (made out of cocktail sticks lined up on a piece of carboard) or a stick in order to disperse. It is really fun experimenting with the inks. See the video below on making 'flowers'.
4. Take it slowly when lifting paper
Sometimes a few of the marbled papers ended up with white marks in the middle, where the inks had not covered the paper. To try to prevent this, gently press on the paper to make sure the whole area has contact with the surface of the size bath. Lift one edge of the paper up with a stick then really take your time lifting off the paper. It is a good idea to drain as much of the size off as possible, so that after it dries, you don't end up with a puddle of it in the middle of your paper - this could leave a watermark or slight stain.
So there you have it - my top tips for marbling paper. I want to stress just how easy it is - everyone who was there produced some fantastic examples. I found it really addictive, and very relaxing. Have a go and have fun!
