Coming up next month, we're proud to offer the opportunity to learn the traditional technique of paper marbling. On February 11th,
Steve Pittelkow will join us at the Center to share his expertise in the art of Turkish Marbling. Pittelkow's interest in marbled paper stems from a longtime desire
to personalize his own bookbinding with distinctive papers. He teaches
extensively and enjoys revealing the secrets for successful marbling.
Over the years, he has experimented with a wide variety of paints and
papers in a quest for materials that allow students a rich and
satisfying marbling experience.
Paper marbling is a method of surface design, used to create colorful patterns similar to smooth marble or stone. Marbled papers are popular used as endpapers in books, and can personalize your work with an energizing hit of color. Turkish marbling involves suspending colored pigments in a water bath, and then manipulating the colors into a pattern using combs, rakes, brushes or other implements. The pattern is then transferred to a prepared sheet of paper. There's a great essay
here on the different types of marbling techniques, both Eastern and Western methods, and a discussion of how to classify marbled papers, as well as a beautiful
database of different kinds of marbled papers, organized by type of pattern, for your visual enjoyment.
Once you've browsed their collection, you hopefully are itching to try it for yourself. Registration is
here for next month's class; students will learn to mix the bath and colors, prepare paper, and
practice many traditional patterns. This 'at the tank' class will
provide each student with many papers for use in future projects.
