To marble the paper

Now, we have went through all the important preparatory steps , we go on to the actual parocess of Marbling.  If this is your first attempt, start out with a few colours, at most three. Mix them and test them as per;
 Fill your through with size to about 3-6 cm. of size.  Make sure that it is warmish.

 Every time before tou want to marble a sheet, you must "skim"the size, by passing a thin slat of wood, or strip of paper over the surface of the size. This must be done, as the size develops a "skin", ( like in a soup), and this skin will interfere with your colours.

 
 Drop on your first colour. It should spread out .

 Drop on the second colour. It should spread over the first, and push it into a "vein" ( see the testing stage)

Drop on the third, if you have one.

What you have now made is called a "stone" pattern, due to it's resemblance to the coloured forms in stones like agate.

It is now time to transfer the design to a sheet of paper.

 Take a sheet of paper previously alumed,and hold it by opposite corners.
Lay the sheet ( A) , alumed side down,  on the bath.
This is done by putting the corner nearest to you on the surface of the bath. ( C) Then, let down the other corner (B) in one smooth motion.

The sheet may be removed from the bath. It is then rinsed gently with water, (to remove the size) and left to dry.

The sheet should be placed on a board, set at an angle, to dry. This allows the water and excess colours to run off. This makes the paper look brighter.
 You can then proceed to marble the next sheet, by repeating the above steps. Just remember to skim the size before appling the colours.

Once you have obtained a relative mastery of doing this, you can proceed to more complex patterns. Just remember,

Nothing ventured , Nothing gained!

The size- other materials

Dried carregean-
  Before the advent of the extract, marblers had to use the genuine , dried carregean moss/algae. it looks like a dried seaweed, brown in colour, and smelling somewhat of the sea.
                                              
***** ingredients*****
25 grmas of dried carregean moss (NOT the extract, which is in the form of a powder)
1 tablespoon of borax
I litre of water.

**** Instructions****
1- put the ingredients into a pot  , and heat them over a medium gas flame
2- let it boil for about half an hour. the water should thicken and turn brown.If the mix is thickening well, the bubbles in it should be fine and foamy. if it froths up voilently, or thickens to a syrupy consistency, add some water.
3- once it has reached the appopriate consistencey, let it cool down to room temprature for about 12 hours. Always remember, it is better to make a over-thick size, as you can thin it down, than an overly thin one.
If you so happen to have made an overly thin size, the only cure is to add some thicker size to it

Gum tragacanth-
 The standard marbling size from the begining of marbling to the 19thc. , when carregean was introduced, and still used today in Turkey for ebru , it is a gum extracted form a species of tree.
The size is made thus......
 
   Procure a large earthen pan, glazed on the inside, capable of holding fron 8 to 12 gallons. put therin about 1 pound of gum tragacanth, and pour upon it about 2 gallons of soft  water. the next morning, stir it well with a birch broom for about 5 minutes; repeat this at  intervals of three or four hours a day, adding more water as it thickens, or absorbs that which was first put to it. in 48 hours, you may first venture to make use of it, though 72 hours would be betterm and I have found some gum which has worked all the better when remainding a week in sollution. [ ......] when your gum is properly dissolved, you must gradgually dilute it with water till it is brought to the proper consistency , whan it must be starined through a hair or muslin sieve.
                         C. W. Woolnough- the whole art of marbling ( 2nd edition, 1881)

Fleaseed/ Psyllium
This material, which is more famous as a digestive aid,  coame in the form of little seeds, which were placed in hot water to extract the mucilage.
 
Woolnough tells us that the size was made by taking a quarter of a pound of the seed, and pouring on it a gallon of boiling water, and stirring the result fro 10 minutes. Half an hour later, another gallon of boiling water was added, and stirring the mixture occasionaly. The thus thickened liquid, when cooled, was the size.

Woolnough also recomended that this material be mixed into the gum tragacanth for patterns that did not require to be combed or manupulated. like, the shell, spanish, italian, &c. , in a proportion of 1  quart of 1 quart of the fleaseed, to 2 gallons of the latter.

Linseed/flaxseed

Another one from the health-food store! . This size is prepared in a similar manner to the fleaseed, but in a proportion of 6 tablesoppons of the seed to about a liter of Hot water, which is then heated in a slow cooker. The arrival of the mucilage  is announced when the seeds start sinking, then the water growing cloudy. Once that is done, let it cool

The size has never been in wide use, as the mucliage turns watery after about a day. furtehrmore, the size is very thick, and only very simple patterns may be made on it.

The size - carrageen

The size in the body of fluid that the marbling colours are floated on . It is of a consistency thicker than water, but not too thick. A consistency like that of cooking oil, or olive oil is ideal.  Several sizes were formerly used. However, only one size is used today, by almost all professionals, carrageen moss. 

Carrageen, or Irish moss, is a type of red alga, which releases a sort of jelly-like thing called mulicage when boiled in water.  Now, it used to be prepared by taking the dried moss, and boiling it for up to half an hour with borax and hot water.The  modern marbler need not suffer this, as a extract of carrageen moss is readily avalible. 

To make the size, take ......

1 ounce of the extract, 

1 quart of hot water. 

There are 2 ways of proceeding from hence. 

The more common method involves whirring the ingredinents iin a blender, and the resulting foamy mess is then left to settle overnight .

The second method involves taking the ingredients, and whisking them in a bowl till all the extract is dissolved. In either case, the sollution is left to cool and diluted, till the desired concictency, as it is often found to be too thick . 

The amount of size that you make must be enough to fill your through to a deph of at least three fingers. 
 

Other sizes were ( and sometimes are) also used, and they will be covered in a subsequent post.