Liquid Starch Paper Marbling

[cebsme]

Ive been experimenting with marbling on paper using liquid starch as a size. This is right up my alley because the most expensive part was the paint and i got a big set for only $8.00 Everything else came from the dollar store except the cardstock i had on hand.  This is just a small sample since i find this relaxing in the past five days ive done over 100 sheets,even though it was just an experiment.  I plan on making a journal with some of it.



My little ham oreo had to sneak into some of the pictures.

[lisaintexas]

Looks great! Can you give a tutorial?

[cebsme]

Sure this is very simple....


Supplies: Liquid starch (jugs found in the Laundry Detergent area of your store)
             Liquid dish soap (plain old dawn type works the best buy any will do)
             Shallow Dish or pan a little larger than your paper for each person ( i used cheap dollar store cookie sheets worked great)
             A plastic dish pan big enough for your paper filled with cold water. ( you need to put it in a water bath, dont worry the design will stay)
             Acrylic Paints in different colors
             Combs, Brushes, Straws, Ect...(anything you can use to make a design, theres many differnt styles and ways you can drop the paint from a brush, use combs to make stripes, straws to make bubbles)
              Some water
              Paper plates to mix up paints
              Paper, you can use any i like cardstock because it stands up to the water bath better but any will do

How to:  Fill your shallow dish just a little more than completely covering the bottom of the pan with liquid starch
             Mix a drop of dish soap in with your paint and some water to make it thin but not very thin, experiement with consistancy, the thicker it is the more will fall past the starch and not be seen on paper, but if its too thin it will spread a lot on the surface(which can look cool)
             Now drop you paint on to the surface of the liquid starch using your brush or any other way you choose,
                   Dropping differnet colors in one spot will make a bullseye, driping small drops all over will look random and create something like the orange and blue on the bottom of my examples.
             You can either just use it dropped or use your comb or straw to make designs. Straws blow bubbles into the paint, combs you can use to spread it out, 3rd example down on the right of mine was spread with combs.
             
              Hold your paper by on corner on the top and the oppisite on the bottom and gently set onto the starch, making sure the entire  surface touched the starch.  It will start to curl a little, when it does this grab your corners again  hold it over the starch for a minute because it will drip for a bit.  Then put it directly colored side down into your water bath, just enough to ge the slimy off. If you want the colors to be brighter you can let it dry for a little bit first, then use the water bath.   

             Let your paper dry then overnight works best, and you will have marbled paper.
             

[flamethrower]

That is awesome!!  the tutorial is great and I can't wait to try it.  I've done the shaving cream paper before, but I think I may like this one better.  Thanks for sharing your photos and the directions.

~ DAWN

[antigone]

beautiful!! I will try this. Do you think liquid starch in spray form would work? The top right one of your papers could be framed as art!

[cebsme]

I dont think the spray will work..because you need your size(the starch) to be something that the paper will set on and not be foamy(or you would get air bubbles) also i think theres so much less in the spray bottles, than in the jugs. I spent 1.67 on a jug

[muffinpod]

awesome idea.

i've been using the shaving cream and food coloring method, but food coloring is expensive... not to mention the color limitations. I have an abundance of acrylic paints, so this sounds more cost-efficient.

thanks! <3

[TwistedRedhead]

I am so going to try this!  I have a marbling kit that uses just water and ink, but I am not completely satisfied with the results that I get.  I am not able to get a nice comb effect.  Thank you so much for the instructions! 

Marbled paper makes beautiful framed art.  Some of the pieces I've made I have run through the Xyron and attached to mat board and then framed.  It is very easy since you don't need a special mat cutter or anything.  I like the look of raw paper edges.

Thanks for posting this cebsme!

[cebsme]

yey, i hope you girls enjoy it as much as i did, it was soo much fun to get a little messy and play while creating some art.

[ktsls82]

Thanks for the tuturial!  I'm doing some collage type journal pages these marbeled sheets will make a great background!