Paper marbling isn't natural fabric dyeing, which means I've gone off-topic already, hooray! It does have some things in common, though:
- It uses alum as a mordant to stick the pigment to the dyestuff/paper.
- It's home chemistry, and you get to feel like a scientist in your very own kitchen.
- It involves tweaking concentrations of various solutions in order to maximise the aesthetic qualities of the results.
- It's fun.
Over the course of Sunday afternoon we marbled about 20 sheets of paper and used three loads of size. The size we used was Deka Marble Medium and we found that 17g - not 10g as the packet suggested - per 2 litres of water gave the best viscosity.
Here are some photos I took. You can see our rubbish low-tech combs if you look closely!
Hey Eugenie,
ReplyDeleteI love this website!
Where do you put the alum? In the two minutes I've had a chance to google marbling it sounds like people are just plopping their untreated paper on water and paint.
I want to come and play at your games. I love all the dyeing stuff you've done. I have only managed eggs at Easter and a white baby vest that I (without consulting any dyeing instructions) stuck in some old beetroot water. Since that didn't stick I left it for a couple of says in a stew of mate leaves (Argentine tea). If I tell you that we have not yet encountered a severe enough emergency to warrant putting the vest on either Elsa or Tomas you will understand that it was all quite unsuccessful. Where do you find out about all these processes? (I had never even heard of a mordant until I saw your website.)
lots of love,D.
This is a lovely comment and Blogger totally didn't tell me about it! Sorry not to have replied for 5 months :(
ReplyDeleteDissolve the alum in water and then sponge it on to the paper, then let the paper dry in air before plopping on to the paint.
As for learning - I started natural fabric dyeing by going to a class. Then I bought lots of books and followed the instructions in there. As for marbling, I just Googled it. Yay for the internet!
Oh, and thank you for such a lovely comment!
ReplyDelete