How is Paper Marbled?

How is Paper Marbled?

We recently had the wonderful opportunity to travel to a small town outside of Florence, Italy to spend a day with our fantastic paper marbling artist, Laura Berretti. While there we observed Laura marbling her beautiful papers and experienced the master craftsmanship that goes into every sheet of Italian hand-marbled paper. Jennifer Vaughan from Mulberry Paper and More then participated first hand in creating her own marbled masterpieces.

 Marbling Basics

Marbled paper has always been quite popular with techniques dating back almost 1000 years. Decorative marble designs can be painted onto a sheet of paper or machine printed. However, the most intricate patterns and beautiful colors come from creating a design in a liquid bath and then placing paper on the pattern to absorb the color pigments. This artistic craft takes years to master. The dedication and expertise shines in the final product.


 Like most artistic creations, the quality of the materials used has a direct impact on the overall quality of the final piece. The materials used to create the Italian Marbled Papers are all 100% natural and are the exact same materials as paper artists used in the 1600's. Careful research, thought and time has gone into selecting the perfect mix of materials to create these beautiful papers.

Carrageenan

The foundation of a marbled paper design is the bath upon which the pigments and dyes float. The bath is a gel-like liquid that is thicker than water so that inks, dyes and pigments will float on the surface and not mix with the bath. Water is turned into a viscous gel by mixing it with Carrageenan, which is derived from seaweed.


Laura Baretti imports raw seaweed from Ireland. The seaweed is boiled in a large vat breaking it down into a viscous gel. After boiling, the bath has to sit undisturbed for 24 to 48 hours to set up into the proper consistency. This process is more time consuming and labor intensive than mixing chemical powders available, but it provides a superior, contaminant-free bath which has a uniform consistency throughout allowing the dyes and pigments to spread evenly and completely.

Pigments

Like a renaissance artist, Laura Baretti hand-mixes pigments to create unique colors for her work. Her artistic eye allows her to combine colors into eye-pleasing palettes that complement the marble patterns and designs. 


Laura uses authentic, natural Ox gall as the base for her dyes. Laura has found producers in the Netherlands that have perfected the production of Ox gall. They have figured out how to filter and purify the liquid removing all the impurities and smell in most other types of Ox gall. Because it is so pure, the Ox gall liquid Laura uses is virtually clear allowing for the pigment colors to remain true. The lack of impurities allows for the pigments to mix smoothly and uniformly throughout. Then, when put on the bath, the pigments spread so perfectly, extremely fine lines and patterns can be achieved. Traditional oil-based dyes are too thick for many of Laura's designs like the Striped Moire or Dragon Skin patterns.

Laura uses natural vegetable dyes for pigments. They start as a dry powder. Laura mixes those pigments with Ox gall to create a liquid dye. Using her years of expertise, Laura can mix pigments to create beautiful and unique color palettes for each sheet of marbled paper.

Paper 

The base paper used in paper marbling plays an important role in the final design. Factors such as the ability of the paper to absorb pigments, the grain direction, the color and the pulp type all impact how well a design on the water bath transfers to the sheet of paper. The quality of the base sheet paper also impacts how well the paper can be used in projects such as bookbinding. From years of trial and error experience, Laura has found the base paper perfect to not only bring her creations to life, but to last for a very long time.

Skilled Craftsmanship Produces Superior Design

Sure, you can buy cheap, mass printed or machine-made marble designs. Printed and machine-made papers will have the exact same design on every sheet. The paper will be designed for printing, not for art. When you use those types of papers, you will quickly feel how inferior in quality and design they are to a hand-marbled sheet of paper. 

The craftsmanship put into each sheet of Laura Baretti's papers is evident a soon as you see and touch the paper. The hand-mixed colors captivate your eyes. The intricate designs and patterns will have you seeing new angles and tones every time you look at the sheet. The slight differences in the pattern created when designs are produced by hand provide character to each and every sheet. The techniques used to move the pigments from the bath to the sheet allow for one-of-a-kind artistic designs. You will elevate your own art or design project when incorporating a sheet of marbled paper that itself is a masterpiece.