Paper Marbling Tutorial Fun and Easy!

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Finally! An easy and awesome and kid friendly paper marbling method. Only THREE necessary supplies:
ResinTints (from Art Resin)
Bucket of water
Various watercolor paper
It's so fun! You're going to love it. What other awesome marbling methods have you tried???

[TheRealGrandadNo]

Lovely to see, thank you for posting. My father taught me how to marble on paper nearly seventy years ago just using the water bath and some old oil paint he had left over from various jobs. We practised on old newspapers first, then used brown paper bags from the greengrocer, then when I became accomplished with that, some wallpaper lining paper that he cut into smaller sheets for me. I still remember how amazed I was at the results! All the best to you and your family, both in art and in life!

[gerryschipper]

30-40 years ago I finely grated colored chalks onto a tub of water, and laid paper on top to pick up the chalk. I don’t remember if I sealed the paper with anything or not, but if I did it would have been hair spray. Last year I was looking through stuff for junk journaling and found some of the marbled paper, beautiful as ever.

[ichibanmegami]

I researched suminagashi and ebru art for my art students and it was a hit! For ebru art or Turkish marbling on a budget, I used liquid startch from walmart for 3 bucks, to replace the carrageenan or ox gall. It thickens the water well. Mixed it with warm water (try 1:1, you will have you experiment with the ratio) and placed it in a shallow cooking pan. (The metal cookie sheets from the dollar store are great). I used semi watered down acrylic ink and used a fanned out brush to splatter the paint onto the surface of the water. I just used a paint pad from the dollar store and got really beautiful results. Instead of scooping it up, I did rest the paper on the surface of the water for a few seconds and then lifted it. To make the combs to pull through the paint on the surface, I used tooth picks and stuck them in cardboard strips. Drag them in different directions to create various patterns! Suminagashi (japanese paper marbling) works best with the actual boku undo ink and rice paper from amazon. Cooler water, still use the shallow pan. Try it out. I was obsessed for quite some time. Made some really awesome prints.

[shannonmowatt]

Awesome. I will have to try it. I've done traditional marbling. Ox gall is made from the ox gall plant and it helps disperse the inks across the surface of the water. No oxen were harmed in the making of the ox gall! Annemarie Ridderhof does traditional style marbling and has a really cool video to explain how to do it as well as the Japanese version, Sumigashi. There are several different methods, like floating the paint on shaving cream. Also, you can use the same acrylic paint you use for pouring to do paper marbling. It is a lot of fun. I think that's why I really like doing the acrylic pouring on canvas, it looks a lot like free form marbling. Looks like you were having a lot of fun!

[k__r]

This is the first time i've seen marbling done with oil based colors, thanks for that, it looks amazing and the presentation is awesome :-D

You can do suminagashi marbling with cheap water soluble acrylics. Add some water (and a drop of dish soap if it doesn't spread) and then dip a brush into the color and immerse just the very tip of the brush into the water. Alternate with another color or with a brush that only has water + dishsoap on it. The result is more transparent than with your technique. The more circles the darker it will be.

[JenJenT]

Dunno if you've been told already, but you can also use almond milk (the Silk brand works excellently) as your "sizing, " and regular acrylic paint, watered down just a bit. You need to pre-treat the paper with alum dissolved in water, first, then let it dry. And then apply it down flat on top of your colors, in the traditional method. And you can get gorgeous results, even using regular copy method.

[Rhaevyn]

You two are adorable! I really enjoyed this, thanks so much. I've been watching marbling videos for almost a week straight now and I think your method is going to be the ONE!! Yay! Thank you Josie (and GIGI!!) :)

[WistfulCreative]

Hi, try mixing up a wallpaper paste(fairly loose, it tightens up quickly) then use your same container...your inks will stay put with whatever designs you create. Then tip your paper the traditional way!

[barbarabuchler]

I use shaving cream to hold the colors and lay the paper on top, comes out great and you can do it a few times and get totally different results.

[melissaschnaible]

Oh also, I love the way you recorded this, and Gigi is an adorable budding artist! 👩🏻‍🎨

[eloved]

That little girl is IN her ELEMENT! Great video. Always looking for crafts/ activities to do in elder care--this was easy to follow and beautifully done!

[AlamedaArts]

This is fun. I will try using the resin tints. We have always used Bokuundo Marbling Kits. The kids can do it and it is inexpensive. This will be a new and fun way to marble paper. Thank you

[rosangelaneff]

I love it but your assistant is one of the best I ever see.Thank you.

[catedoss]

I wish I had an assistant like yours. (Mine turned into an adultish person; her brother is still here, but not as interested in making messes.) I may have to give this a go. It looks very fun, and I love a good color experiment. I loved your soundtrack, too. You need a TV show.

[marlenejones]

This is quite cool but i want the marbled look from laying the paper on top of the water. Yours is fun for a different look of bubbles and circles. Your assistant is so much fun...and she did cool work with you.

[MsLuna]

Thanks to you and Gigi for Sharing this. Looks like fun.

[kwhiteway]

This has got to be the best YouTube video I’ve seen yet, and I’ve seen a lot! I wish I knew how to make the videos and edit them like you do. I really want to learn so I can do some with my art. Any advice is appreciated 🤗! Love your adorable assistant! 💞

[kiamacwan]

I tried it with nail polish and it worked🎉🎉

[ClaraLawrence]

You are awesome. Love the paper idea. Got plenty of art resin tints, paper and too many plastic tubs. Will have to play a bit. Perfect project with munchkins too.

[marklatimer]

I remember doing this 60 years ago at school using 'Airfix' model enamel paints - we got in a right old mess, the only thing that didn't get paint on it was the paper.