A long time ago, I tried paper marbling, and I really enjoyed it. I made a lot of pages, and I used them in scrapbooking and for stationary. After a while, though, I put aside that craft.
A few weeks ago, we were able to watch an historic paper marbler on zoom. Historic New Harmony couldn't have their regular heritage artisan days, so they offered zoom lessons to schools and homeschools. Naturally, I signed up, and Lydia and Gyunay and I enjoyed watching the paper marbler, potter, and blacksmith. All three gave very thorough explanations of their crafts, and it inspired me to go down the rabbit hole of historic paper marbling.
Naturally, I went online and spent hours. I bought books and supplies. I do intend on paper marbling the same way they did in the 1800s (and earlier), and I have most of the supplies for that now, including things like ox gall and carageenan. (Or in other words, bile from a cow's liver, and moss from Ireland.) But for starters, I bought a kids' modern marbling kit, and I let the kids have a fun art class.
Lydia really enjoyed it, and she patiently cleaned the size after each use. She tried out some of the traditional marbling techniques, too.
We had a good time. We saved a couple of sheets for Emry to try when he got off the bus, too.
Overall, it was a huge success, and I am itching to try the historic methods. That will take quite a bit more trial and error, but I think it will be most rewarding.
I remember those papers, I used a few. It looks like the kids did a great job.
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