Marbling paper is magic! Not only is the product beautiful when you are finished, but the process is captivating.
The art of marbling originated in Japan in the twelfth century with the discovery that ink floating on water could be transferred to paper. Three centuries later, artists in Turkey further developed the art form by raking the paint floating on thickened water, before transferring the resulting patterns to paper. Knowledge of this new art spread into Renaissance Europe, where new patterns and techniques were developed and guarded as secret by the marbling guilds. However, by the nineteenth century, the secrets of the marbling process were revealed to the general population.
