I’ve always loved marbled papers, ever since a trip to Venice as a teenager when I stumbled across a tiny paper shop called Il Papiro that was filled from floor to ceiling with hand-decorated sheets in every hue. Even then (especially then!), they were way beyond my price range, so I admired them and reluctantly left them behind. Finally, an unimaginable number of years later, I discovered how to make marbled paper at home. The trick? The cheapest shaving foam you can find.
In truth, I am pretty sure that this is not the secret ingredient that Italian marblers have been using since the fifteenth century, but still – it works a treat.
Firstly, go shopping for several cans of shaving foam. Ignore the strange looks that this provokes; try not to appear as someone wresting with a secret, hidden, hairiness. Then find yourself some disposable foil trays, food colouring and a syringe or baster / pipette. Latex gloves too, if your fingers will appear in public soon afterwards; temporary staining is a potential hazard. Let’s begin…
Fill your tray with spray-can shaving foam. Make sure it’s the old fashioned cheap foam and not hipster shaving gel; you want plenty of ‘bouff’…
Then using the syringe or pipette, squirt drops of food colouring randomly around the tray. Here, I used two shades of blue food dye (a turquoise and a deeper blue), and also some gold paint;
Using a wooden skewer, gently stir and swirl the dye around until it’s mixed loosely together and there are no big pools or stripes of colour. Don’t blend it in completely; you just want it stirred together, like this;
And then quickly lay your piece of paper on top, face-down, and push it gently flat so that all parts of it are covered by the foam mix
Lift up the paper and lay it down flat. It will look deeply unimpressive. You will be covered in foam. You will despair. But wait. Wait just a moment, because this next bit is where the magic happens…
Take a clean ruler and place it along your sheet, and pull down smoothly, wiping the foam away. It’s awesome. You will feel like an artist…
Use kitchen roll to wipe away any residual foam, and leave the paper to dry.
You can get a second print from the tray, but it will be a bit blurrier and less defined than the first. Try different colour mixes and experiment with using shaded papers. My favourite is pale blue paper with blue food dye and silver paint; it gives an ethereal and delicate marbling pattern that’s perfect for making writing paper…
Deeper and more vibrant mixes are great for making gift tags, or cutting out as envelope liners like below;
Make sheet after sheet, and use them in everything you can think of…
Oh, and happy Sunday, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing! (Do this now; do this instead…)
