Italian

The Italian, or Hair-vein

The Italian is just another variety of Stone pattern, Which has white as it's dominant colour. The white is produced by sprinkling on, with a whisk, oxgall diluted with water.

1- Drop on a colour or two ( see below). Do not drop on a lot of colour, as this would prevent the gallwaterfrom spreading well.

2- Using a whisk, Sprinkle on some Gall water ( oxgall + water ). The gallwater should spread,  

and force the colour[s] on the size into fine, hairlike veins. If this does not happen, add     more oxgall.                                                                                 1-   Italian made with blue

Colour combinations

Blue ( see 1)
Red+ blue

Red+black

Red+yellow+Green+ Blue  ( see 2)

~Notes~

The fineness and eveness of the droplets of colour, are the key factor to the beauty of this pattern. The pattern should look like fine mesh or lace.

 To acheive this finess, you must hold the whisk high above the trough, as this will cause the droplets to fall down as a fine shower on the pattern.

                                                                                                     2- Italian made with many colours

Stone pattern

The Stone

Of all the patterns of marbled paper, this one is the simplest. It simply involves dropping colours on the size, and printing the sheet as it is

 This pattern is also amongst the most versatile. Over the centuries, it has been made in every possible colour combination, and size.
 I should not mention all the colour combinations in which this pattern can be made, as to do so would be both useless and tedious, as ones taste is usually sufficient.However, one version of this pattern is worth mentioning- The English spot
 The Engish spot pattern, as I call it, had a surprisingly long lifespan. examples form the late 17thc. are almost identaical to the ones produced in the late 19thc.

Endpapers of book, late 18thc[?]

1- Drop red on the bath.

2- Drop on some yellow

3- Drop on black

 In later times, the colours were often swirled about randomly at this stage

4- Drop on some Dark green. This colour should have a bit more gall than the other colours.

5- Sprinkle on purple. Do not put a lot of gall into this colour, as the colour should remain in small spots

6- If you please, sprinkle on a shower of fine white spots

 ~Notes~

You can control the size of the droplets of colour by using various tools. Whisks give very fine drops. artists brushes, larger droplets.
 The last colour applied to a stone pattern is the predominating colour, unless the amounts of colours used vary enormously.

marbling combs- Woolnough's method

The great 19thc. marbler, Charles woolnough, gave us in his book "the whole art of marbling " a method of making combs. The combs produced here can be made very fine indeed, and are of a superior class.
 To make the combs, you must take a, piece of paper as long as you intend to make the comb, and enogh needles to make the comb ( 2 needles per centimeter produce a very good comb)

1-Fold the paper in half.

2- Then,  fold the back the part you previously folded, about 4cm creating an "M" shape in the paper

3- Now, draw a line about 1 cm. from the edge. This line will be folded back to hold the needles in place later. Now, mark off sections on the line, where you want the needles to be.

Stick the needles into the paper, like so.

Once the whole comb has it's needles stuck into it, you fold back the margin of paper that you made in the third step, thus causing the needles to stick out, like a comb. 



Make sure that the needles are straight and stick out evenly form the paper.

( N.B you can make the blunt ends of the needles point outwards- it's your choice)

Usually, as this point, the comb would be secured with a strip of glued paper. However, There is a much more permanent method - HOT GLUE...

Cover a bar of wood in hot glue, and stick the comb in it.

Once the glue has solidified, you can pull the paper away, to reveal a very good comb