Paper Marbling

Do you know about paper marbling? I have recently discovered that I have an old hand marbled notebook and I am sharing all about it! Here is a little history behind hand marbling paper.

I am also sharing how I used my paper marbled paper notebook that I recently got as a display piece and I am including some information about the various techniques that have been developed over the years.

The Moment I Fell In Love With Paper Marbling

At the beginning of the summer I drove up to the north side of Atlanta to visit a friend. She use to live very close to me but moved away a few years ago. This friend just so happened to have been the store manager at one of the antique stores that I had a booth in years ago. She and I grew very close because of our love of antiques. We have spent hours and hours discussing all sorts of ‘Antique and Vintage Topics’ from trends in the market to cool pieces.

As you can imagine, when we do manage to find time to get together we still chat about the same things – including our passion for cool old pieces. The last time I was with her, she had a carload of old items that she had gathered for me. The haul was a mix of items she had collected for herself and was getting rid of as well as pieces she had found while out hunting – specifically for me.

I am here to tell ya, that carload of goodies made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning and I couldn’t wait to get home and carefully look at each piece that she had handed over to me. There were so many beautiful things like old clocks and skeleton keys and glass doorknobs. There were large weathered crates and art work and tables. There really was so much! I was so excited as I opened, admired, cleaned, and sorted each piece. And then, inside a cardboard box, I found the coolest treasure.

I found an old notebook that had the coolest cover I had ever seen. It looked almost like it was from the 1970s – because the cover looked so “groovy.” I loved this notebook so much that I decided to share in my instagram stories. I showed the really beautiful cover, of course, and I also shared the lovely writing inside the notebook. As soon as I shared the video of the penmenship, I was immediately hit with messages saying that this notebook was from the Victorian era.

I realized pretty quickly, that they were right and after a little digging I discovered that this cover on this notebook was created with a technique called paper marbling. I was very intrigued after discovering this and I wanted to know, what is hand marbling and how did this process work back in the 1800s.

What Is the Process To Marble Paper By Hand Entail

So, like anyone would do, I decided to do a quick google search and found that Wikipedia calls the process Paper Marbling and explains that “Paper marbling is a method of aqueous surface design, which can produce patterns similar to smooth of marble other kinds of stone. The patterns are the result of color floated on either plain water or a viscous solution known as size, and then carefully transferred to an absorbent surface, such as paper or fabric. Through several centuries, people have applied marbled materials to a variety of surfaces. It is often employed as a writing surface for calligraphy, and especially book covers and endpapers in bookbinding and stationary. Part of its appeal is that each print is a unique.”

I learned that water based inks can float in water for a short period of time and during this short window those ink colors can be ‘controlled’ a bit. These floating inks or dyes are manipulated into patterns using various tools. Then, a sheet of paper is placed on top of the floating design and absorbs the pattern. I read that it is important that you ‘tap’ the paper gently while it sits on top of the water to help avoid allowing any air to be trapped. After the paper has absorbed the pattern, it is gently lifted from the water and laid onto a board to be rinsed by clean water.

Then, after a little bit more reading, I learned that there are a variety of paper marbling techniques. It all has to do with the way the makers used their tools and manipulated the ink. There are MANY variations of marbling paper by hand and some (not all) of these patterns include:

• The Golden Vein Pattern
• The French Curl Pattern
• The Bouquet Pattern
• The Tiger Pattern
• The Spanish Pattern
• The Zebra Pattern
• The Antique Straight Pattern
• The Nonpareil Pattern

The art of marbling has been practiced for a very long time – some dating it as far back as the 12th century. The art of Suminagashi (or marbling) was being practiced at that time in Japan. Then, other types of marbling began to happen in areas of the world like Turkey and Persia. As the art spread across the globe, new styles and patterns of marbling began to appear. The art of marbling then began to spread through Europe and beyond and professional marblers (as they were called) were in high demand. It just so happens that these paper marblers were quite secretive about how they created their works of art and there was competition among the profession. These sought after decorative marbled papers were used in books that were hand bound but sadly once bookbinding machines were developed, the demand for marbling began to dissipate.

Paper Marbling Is Still Around Today

Paper marbling is still a process happening today and while exact methods tend to differ a bit, the basic process continues to live on. There are artist across the globe that continue to practice this art resulting in marbled pieces that mix ancient and modern techniques. These current artists are also mixing styles too which make for some real fun patterns. One such artist, Natalie Stopka, is a current artist that specializes in the beautiful art of marbling today.

What I think is really cool too is that we continue to see ‘marbled” patterns all around us today. These pieces are so much like the old marbled papers that were being created all those years ago. Items like:

• this phone case
• these pillows
• this notebook
• these lamps
• this wallpaper
• this popsocket

I have even seen my kids do this same sort of process on things around the house. Have you ever heard of Hydro Dipping? Well, that is what my son did to his flip flops a few weeks ago. It was messy, but fun! I didn’t take any photos of the process when Cooper was doing it but you can click here to see an example of what I am talking about!

Cool Hand Marbled “Finds”

Want your very own marbled paper collection? Click here for your very own collection of scanned reproductions of vintage papers from the 18th and 19th century.

Want a piece of hand marbled paper from a current marbler? Check out these decorative marbled papers below!

Want to read more about paper marbling or do you want a few examples of marbled paper? Check out these books below!

Wanna try your hand at marbling paper by hand? Check out these beginner kits below!

Wrap Up

I was so excited to learn more about this old notebook and I wanted to make sure that I displayed it in a way I could admire the cover! So, I just popped it into this old stoneware piece! I know it may seem a a little odd to display it this way – but I love it!

And I also love recognizing and seeing the beauty in these everyday items that were used long ago. Even more I love reading and learning about how these things were made and what they were used for. I hope that you learned a bit more about Paper Marbling in this blog post! I don’t know about you but I for one LOVE the history behind these beautiful finds that we bring into our homes. These really cool decorative papers are so very beautiful and I am so lucky to have my very own authentic one from the 1800s. Thanks for taking a moment to read along!

If you liked learning about paper marbling then you might also like to read this post on how to date old coke bottles and this post about old whisk brooms.

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