Basically you use shaving cream rather than water as the suspension for the ink. IMPORTANT: Get unscented foam, or the mildest scent you can find. When I learned this, my teacher (Jane Davila, whom I believe I may have mentioned here before...) wasn't able to get unscented and by the end of the session we were all a little woozy from the menthol. Of course, if you're inspired whilst woozy from menthol, have at it. Who am I to throw stones...?
You'll need:
-Paper or fabric (hereafter: p/f)
NOTE: the fabric should be washed to remove the sizing, and pressed to remove wrinklies
-A shallow roasting pan (disposable aluminum is fine)
It should be long and wide, but need not be especially deep (2 in./5 cm is enough)
-A can of shaving cream
-Inks in various colors
In class we used Tsukineko ink, but I've read it's possible to use thinned down acrylic paint and even food coloring -- essentially, any coloring agent that will rest on top of the foam
-Bamboo skewers to drip the ink and swirl it around; one for each color and some clean ones for the swirling
-A stiff card to smooth the foam
(Finally, a use for those "Apply Now! You've been PRE-approved!!" bank and credit cards that flood your mail box)
-The usual spread of newspaper and paper towels to keep things tidy
-A place to leave the marbled p/f to dry
Okay, all set, then it just goes like this:
1. Squirt enough of the shaving cream into the roasting pan to fill it about 1 in./3 cm deep.
2. Use the stiff card to smooth the surface of the cream.
3. Dip a skewer into the ink and scatter drips over the surface of the cream.
NOTE: the ink doesn't bloom across the surface the way it will on water, so you'll need a lot of drips if you want a lot of coverage
4. Lightly and quickly draw a clean bamboo skewer through the foam to pull the inks into lines and swirls.
NOTE: It is easy to overwork this step, especially if you have several colors of ink resting on the foam. Two passes seem to be enough -- for example, once across the whole length, then once across the whole width or on one diagonal.
5. Place the p/f on the surface of inky foam. Pat gently all around to ensure contact over the whole surface.
6. Lift off the p/f. Shaving cream will cling to its surface, do not panic. Scrape the cream away with the stiff card.
NOTE: Clean the card after each scrape by wiping it on newspaper or some such. This prevents transferring the ink in the foam to other parts of the p/f while scraping.
7. That's it. Put the p/f somewhere to dry.
If you want to do more sheets, scrape the top of the foam clean, or add more foam and scrape it smooth, then drip new ink, and repeat the steps from there.
If you've used acrylic or water-based inks or paints, everything can be safely washed up in the sink. If you haven't, you're on your own for disposal; my knowledge of these other things is severely limited and my experience with them even more so.
Almost all of the ink comes off in the first pull, so you probably won't get more than one very ghostly image if you press another p/f sheet down, but you can smooth some of the residual ink over the surface and get some background color from the first inking.
You don't get the beautiful amorphous swooshy swirls like you do on a liquid suspension but it does a credible job of imitating the fan-like patterns on Florentine endpapers. Like so:
(sorry they're blurry, my scanner is cranky about fabric)
This (above) also has some gold fabric paint spattered o'er the top.
This is the first one I did (above). On the second one (below) you can see a little of of the purple and yellowish residue that I left on the foam to see what would happen. 
I think when I do this again I won't be quite so timid about the p/f and will try a printed or otherwise colored fabric rather than my stalwart workaday white muslin.
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8 comments:
I found you through Vivian Blackburn's Blog and I'm so glad she gave us a pointer to your Blog. This is a wonderful idea and one I'm going to have to try.
Thank you for posting such clear instructions and your photos are gorgeous! I'm thinking this would work for handmade wrapping paper, what do you think?
I think that's a great idea (one of those "wish I'd thought of that ideas).
The only problem might be matching the size of the paper to the size of the pan. But the shaving foam is so robust that I think -- I don't know, but I do think -- you could squirt it onto any non-absorbent surface and shape it into the size you need. It should hold together well enough to serve. (I may also have read somewhere about this "panless" technique, which may be why it's come so readily to mind.)
Lovely designs here, Melanie. And,yes, you can use a larger base for your shaving foam. I used an old glass shelf (from a fridge) and marbled a bigger than A4 sheet of cartridge paper.
Melanie - those results are fantastic: they look so delicate. I've been experimenting with monotypes for the past few weeks and this makes it quickly to the top of 'need to try asap'. thanks for this inspiring post!!
When I used to marble we used a bath of water with wallpaper paste which the ink would then float on. But using non-watersoluble inks was a pest for cleaning up after. I too found you from vivien's blog.
Hi yellow,
I've been reading about suminagashi marbling (Japanese technique and supplies). Most of those instructions say to put Photo Flow (a fluid used in developing film) in the water. I think the idea is to make the water slightly more viscous so the ink has a stronger support. I was wondering if putting a bit of oatmeal in the water would achieve the same thing, so I'm glad to hear that wheat paste (wallpaper paste) has a history of success. Thanks for stopping by.
Your results look terrific. I've been meaning to try this technique and somehow never did. You have inspired me all over again. Thanks!
A great post :>)
and thank you again for the instructions you sent me - I haven't had chance to try it out yet but it is high on my list as you've got beautiful results with it.
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