Creating Marbleized Paper

This past Sunday my family and I went to painter Liz Floyd's home and studio to experiment with making marbleized paper. Liz is an accomplished painter and had created marbleized paper before.

Marbling paper is an ancient art form involving aqueous surface design. Using oil paint, linseed oil, mineral spirits, water and paper you can create the illusion of marble. Below is a step by step of how we created marbleized paper



Oil paints are put in individual bowls for mixing with mineral spirits.



Paints are mixed with mineral spirits using a palette knife.



Oil paints are dripped onto water (prepared with linseed oil). The paints
float on the surface of the water.



The oil paints are dripped into the water, creating a pattern.



Bond paper, cut to the size of the enamel tray, is carefully
laid on top of the paints.



Another design of oil paints dripped into the linseed oil
treated water.



Some of the finished marbleized paper.
All photos by Marie Dauenheimer.