Marbling





Marbling has two common meanings. Faux marbling is the art of painting walls
or furniture to look like real marble. Paper marbling is the art of
decorating paper or fabric in a fantasy swirly pattern.

Faux Marble

Marbling is a paint effect that uses painting techniques to imitate the
appearance of marble. It is used in buildings where the cost or weight of
genuine marble is prohibitive.

It is an old technique, faux stone painting was widly used in Pompeii. But
it really took off in Europe during the renaissance with two schools of faux
marbling developing. The Italian school was loose and artistic. The French
school was formal and realistic. It typically took an apprentice ten years
or more to fully master the art.

Modern professional marblers are very skilled and will use a variety of
techniques to closely imitate real marbles, but many decorators are happy to
merely suggest the appearance of marble rather than accurately imitate a
particular stone. It is not as difficult to do as it looks. It is perfectly
possible for an amateur to produce a beautiful effect with a little practice.

Apparatus

   * White eggshell paint {sometimes known as semigloss of softsheen}
   * Boiled linseed oil {Available in the wood treatment section of a DIY
     store. It is used to slow the paint drying time}
   * White spirit {to thin the paint and clean the brushes}
   * A tube of black artist oil paint. "lamp black" is nice
   * Brushes, one of which should be good quality and very soft.
   * Two feathers, the traditional one to use is goose but any large feather
     will do.
   * Some rags or lint-free cloths

Method

Stage 1

The surface is cleaned then painted with the eggshell paint and left to dry
overnight. The following day the surface is painted with a thin layer of
linseed oil. This slows the drying time of the paint considerably and
therefore keeps it workable. Then the black oil paint is mixed with a little
of the white eggshell to produce a light grey tone, which is added here and
there over the linseed oil base. Other shades of grey are used to fill in
the gaps so there is a swirly pattern of colour.

Stage 2

A soft, dry paintbrush {two or three inches wide} is used to soften the
colour. A rag is dabbed over the surface to break up the colour and remove
excess paint, then the surface is softened again with the dry brush.

Stage 3

An artist's brush is used to add a light veining pattern in mid grey. The
veins do not cross one another, they do not start or stop suddenly, and they
do not fan out from a point. They do go in a diagonal direction, but they
are never regular or even.

Colour can be removed from part of the surface, if required, by dipping the
artist's brush in white spirit, and lifting the colour off with the brush.
The whole surface is the thoroughly resoftened with a dry brush, or a
crumpled cloth.

Stage 4

Fine veining is added with a feather. The feather is dipped in white spirits
and roughly brushed backwards to separate the bits . Then it is dipped in
thin charcoal grey paint and used as a brush to add the fine wiggly veins.
Light coloured veins can be added either by dipping a feather into off white
paint or by dipping the feather into white spirits. As it is drawn across
the surface the white spirit dissolves the paint underneath and a light vein appears.

Paper Marbling

A technique of painting paper based on the principle of oil-based printing
inks floating on water. The ink is stirred, then a print is taken. Each
print is unique and unrepeatable.

There are two main forms of paper marbling. Suminagashi is the Japanese form
of paper marbling , Turkish Marbling is the Persian form.

Marbled paper is produced in large quantities in Venice.