Wednesday 30 March 2011

Marbling Ideas and Info

After my WOYWW post quite a few of you have asked for info on how I did my marbling so I'm doing an extra post today with photos of the simple stages. I've played around with several inks but I find the easy marble pots really are the easiest and are readily available at art or craft shops. 
Whilst there are more detailed and complex methods here I'm doing it the simple way and marbling with water as the carrier so it's best and easier to just use the right paint.
Note that the paint is not permanent , just decorative, and therefore will not wash. Here's the link for Marabu who make them.
To decorate the eggs you'll need a large jam jar of water (not too full so it doesn't overflow when items are plunged), kebab skewers (around £1 for 100) a piece of wire or a pointy tool, plastic eggs, 3 or more colours of easy marble paints. HobbyCraft have eggs quite cheaply BTW.
Late note... found packets of 12 eggs at The Works for 99p... (make sure you get the plastic ones as they also have polystyrene eggs which aren't quite as effective.)
Drip 3 or 4 drops of each colour onto the surface of the water.
Swirl around with the tip of a metal point
Push a skewer into a plastic egg then plunge into the water, twisting as it goes down. It doesn't look too good yet and it is serendipity as to the results achieved.
It is fascinating to see what emerges.
Sometimes just amazing!
Add tags and ribbons and they can then be displayed amongst Spring greenery for Easter
I also tried marbling shapes cut out of white mountboard and I think this has great prospects for more experiments.
These cut outs were all dipped into the colours in the jam jar exactly in the same way as the eggs but I pushed a cocktail stick into each item or held it with tweezers.
All these items can be stamped, decorated with flowers, gems, glitter etc, depending on their final use.
If you want to marble pieces of card then have the water in a bigger flat tray slightly bigger than the card to be marbled so the inks do not waste. You only then need to add drops for the surface area needed.
With an extra swirl this tray of water produced this result on card....
The small piece of card, bottom right, was made by picking up the residue ink in the tray.
I hope this inspires you to have a play and have fun... I did !!!


20 comments:

Liverpool Lou (Anne) said...

Hi Jo, great stuff, fantastic effects ;-) I bought some of those paints a few years ago when an art shop in Wakefield was closing down. Only played with them once, but now youo've reminded me, they will be great for the kids to play with during the Easter hols.
Love those stamps below, really really good value! Love Klitty, she's just fabulous; is that a fur coat? - you know what I mean! hehe
Anne xx

Sheilagh said...

Fabulous:) will have to do that with grandkids:)

Twiglet said...

What a fab transformation you have achieved there Jo. So glad little Baxter is winging his way to you - hope he has a comfy ride! x Jo

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Great tutorial, I love the effects, all the pieces look so effective. Enjoy your day, Tracy x

Spyder said...

This takes me back, I did this at Play school but we used trays and laid the paper over it, but on seeing this I think the kiddies would have loved doing it this way, it's brilliant! Happy WOYWW!!
((Lyn)) #51!

Paul B said...

Wonderful tutorial Jo. Those eggs look stunning and it's fascinating to see all the different objects and shapes you've been playing around with. Your blog is always a delight to visit. Px

jude said...

Wow Beautiful results hun ,absolutely stunning thatks for doing tutorial for us!Will have a go let you know .Need to get proper inks!
Off to search thanks hugs judex

sam21ski said...

Great effect Jo

Hope you are doing ok xxx

Scrapcat 1 said...

Wow that looks fab and you have made it look really easy Jo, might give it a try with DD as she is only in scholl for 8/9 days in the whole month of April!

Unknown said...

amazing i love how different they all came out but i love the bird the best he has turned out grand tfs hugs jayne xxx

Von said...

So cool and just right for Easter :)
Thanks for the inspiration Jo
Von x

okienurse said...

Beautiful. Gotta buy some! I first saw the marble art 3-40 years ago at a state fair. Loved the way it looked but couldn't get it to work. Gotta try again. Just beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Vickie #83

The Crafty Elf said...

Perfect timing for Easter. What a wonderful idea and the results are stunning. TFS

Marjo said...

Jo you are awesome! Thanks for doing this post, can't wait to try this with the kiddos...heck I love it too...lol

Bunches of hugs for sharing, Marjo

hazel said...

Thank you for a great tutorial Jo. The results are beautiful.
xxx Hazel.

Dotpat said...

They look great Jo, bet you enjoyed getting all messy

sandra de said...

Great tute and perfectly timed .... I was just thinking about marbling. thanks Jo.

sandra de said...

Thanks for the smooch marbling tips, I will check out your Feb. post. Have a lovely weekend.

Unknown said...

I love marbling and have tried different inks. The Smooch Inks from the US work great too. Wish I had bought more than 3. LOL

Carol

Zafran ali said...

Gorgeous!!!
Plastic Card Printing