Marbling is one of the newest trends in the crafting world, and for good reason! It looks amazing, it's fairly easy, and I think it brings everyone back to being a kid and doing kid crafts - remember that feeling you'd get when you made something really cool? I think as I put less pressure on myself to make products, I'll come back to that fundamental joy of creating. Look at how beautiful marbling is!
From Flax and Twine.
From Babble Babble Do
I tried this technique back in Arkansas with watercolors. I think I found some tutorial or other, but it didn't work out. The colors didn't swirl - they just turned the water a different color and my paper got soaked with faintly rainbowy tints. Very disappointing.
I recently saw from Mollie Makes that marbling is definitely one of the trends this year for crafting. Of course I wanted to get on that bus! So I grabbed a plastic storage container, some cardstock, and some water-based acrylic paint and got to work.
First I cut my 8.5 by 11" cardstock into four small sheets that would fit in the plastic container.
Then I took two paint colors (espresso and golden brown) and drizzled them right from the bottle onto the water. The key here is drizzling in quick, thin dribbles. The paint will swirl on its own. Use a toothpick or the handle of a paintbrush to stir it around gently. Doesn't it look cool?
Some bits of pigment will still float on the surface. Push these gently down with the paintbrush or toothpick. If you don't, they'll stick to the paper.
Gently lay a piece of cardstock on the water.
Gently pull up the cardstock. This was before I got the hang of the pigment-pushing - you can see the blobs of paint that stuck to my paper. Still looks awesome though!
And the progression photo! Starting from my first attempt (top left) to my last one (bottom right). None of them are perfect, but I'm excited to try this again with pretty colors and figuring out the floating paint thing. I also took this photo before ironing the paper - when the cardstock is completely dry, you can iron it using an iron on the medium setting.
What do you guys think of the marbling trend? What else could we marble?
Looking for more tutorials? Check out my blog's DIY page!
Looking for more tutorials? Check out my blog's DIY page!
Have you seen the marbling of cups? I've seen it all over pinterest. I like tie dyeing instead of marbling but that is just me! Looks awesome, through. You should marble dye some yarn.
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