Advanced marbling workshop

Last year, I discovered the wonders of marbling with Freya at Paperwilds at her studio in Bermondsey. Recently, I attended a new session where I learnt more advanced marbling designs and practised previous techniques from the introduction to marbling session.

I arrived at the workshop uncharacteristically late because I decided to bike to the studio on my bike and promptly got lost somewhere on the Elephant and Castle roundabout! Thankfully, everybody was only just starting to mix some gouache colours in pots so I was able to get stuck in quickly!

Unfortunately, my first few marbling papers were a bit naff! After chatting with Freya she tells me 'the marbling gods are fickle beasts' and not to be too disappointed. Luckily, I found my flow again with a new technique called the 'wave'. To create this effect you move the paper backwards and forwards slightly as you place the paper onto the marble bath. This creates ridges or lines in the colour which create a wave effect.

As ever, Ludo the studio dog chilled out and was most placid and relaxed dog EVER! He occasionally did a bit of yoga and moved to the next sunny spot of the studio throughout the day.

Here are the classes marbling drying on the racks in the warm sunshine.

The 'fern'

The 'fern'

'Non-pariel' with a final pink layer

The 'shell' or 'peacock'

The 'American' (combination of Non-pareil and Gelgit)

The 'American' (combination of Non-pareil and Gelgit)

The 'wave' created by lifting the gouache in a stop-start rocking motion

The 'wave' 

The 'wave' 

The 'wave' 

I thoroughly enjoyed the advanced marbling workshop with Freya (and Ludo). I can see more marbling workshops in my future.
Just in case you wondered about what happened to my first lot of marbling. I finished making these delightful little sketchbooks for friends and family. I only have a few left, so I definitely needed a new supply of marbling paper to make new ones!

Simple Sewn Sketchbooks

This week I was helping an A Level Art student prepare her portfolio for a series of Art Degree interviews and we wondered how to present her collection of over 50+ sketches that were on loose papers. To create a sense of order we curated themes (still life, portrait, architecture) and placed them into a pleasing order. I then taught her how to sew the papers together using a sewing machine to create a series of unique hand-made sketchbooks.

Once we got into the flow we also made these lovely A4 and A5 sketchbooks using lots of left-over marbling from a few weeks ago and piles of loose cartridge paper and sugar paper. It's a great way to quickly create something simple, fun and useful.

Here is a simple step-by-step guide to creating these very pleasing hand-made sketchbooks.

Simple Sewn Sketchbooks

Equipment
Sewing Machine
Coloured thread of your choice
Selection of cartridge paper
Marbled paper / Good quality wrapping paper / Wallpaper
Scissors / rotary trimmer

1. Select a range of papers and stack in your order of choice with the 'cover' on the top

2. Fold the cover paper in half (or draw a pencil line to indicate the half-way point)

3. Set the stitch length to the longest stitch and sew along the line using the sewing machine

4. Tie the threads at each end or leave loose depending on personal preference and fold the entire collection of paper at the sewn line. Use a heavy set of books / object to weight the paper (if you have a bone-folder for book-making you can use this to create the beautiful creases needed for a perfect job)

5. Now get sketching or note-taking, doodling, organising, creative writing, dream-diary recording, fashion drawing, clothes designing or gifting to a friend!

Tips & Ideas

• You will need to experiment with the capacity of your sewing machine to figure out how many sheets of paper it will comfortably sew. Most of the sketchbooks above have 10 - 15 sheets of varying weights of paper.
• Use a denim / large size needle to sew with (or an old needle as it doesn't need to be super sharp)
• Fold or cut the paper in different ways to make unusual size sketchbooks
• Try different threads to contrast or compliment your paper selection
• The pink and red sketchbook in the above photo was sewn at one side only for a different style of sketchbook
• You could also use lined paper / tracing / tissue / newspaper / magazine pages

Check out other crafty blogs at Sum of Their Stories