Alum Recipe For Marbling

Hang to completely dry before marbling.

Alum recipe for marbling.

Let the paper dry overnight or speed drying with a blow dryer. The recipe we use for the alum is. The marbling paints sink to the bottom of the tray. There are a lot of different recipes for mordanting fabric prior to marbling but with my natural dyeing experience to guide me i d like to share my method.

Mix 3 tablespoons alum per 1 quart of hot water. Marbling colors are too thick. You can do this the night before. Stir for 2 or 3 minutes till the alum is dissolved.

Marbling on tragacanth does not requore alum but the paper must be dampened slighly to accept the colour. Buy pure aluminum sulfate from an art supply store or online. Directions for fabric marbling. Dissolve 2 tsp alum in 3 4 cup water.

Lay a sheet of paper on the surface of this alum water. Let pigment spread out 2 to 3 inches. The trick to adhering the paint to fabric is presoaking the fabric in alum. 1lb alum 3 gallons of alum mixture.

1lb of alum 24 tablespoons of alum. Let the alum dissolve then soak the fabric for 20 minutes. To make enough alum for several dozen sheets of paper stir 1 tbsp 15 ml alum into 1 cups 360 ml warm water until completely dissolved at least two minutes. Add water to thin the colors skim the marbling base then test.

Corn starch in 1 2 cup cold water. Without it the marbling will be faint and blurry. Make a double recipe of liquid starch by dissolving 4 tbs. In this case you should apply the alum by the soaking method.

Continue in this fashion adding color over color and letting paint spread out and form random shapes. Pour this mixture into a large marbling tray. The size might be too thin or old. If you marble on the wrong side the pigments will not properly adhere to the paper.

A 20 x 26 will hold approximately 2 gallons of water. The reasons behind this i have not been able to find out but it might historicaly have something to do with. 1 gallon of water to 8 tablespoons 1 3 cup of alum. Mark one side of your watercolor paper with an a and use a sponge brush to apply alum solution evenly to that side of the paper.

It makes the colours adhere to the paper. With a coffee stirrer drop paint onto several spots on surface of size. Alum is a mordant meaning it causes color to set on the paper. In recent posts i ve looked into the types of alum and the quantity necessary for marbling paper.

Put one third cup of alum into one gallon of water or you can cut this recipe in half. Add 1 teaspoon of methocel methocelulose powder per gallon of solution or throw out and start a new recipe.