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Tuturial on Marbleizing Paper

Guess what? It's another one of those reprinted articles from my days on craftycrafty! Enjoy :)

Recently I was introduced to the very cool art of paper marbleizing.

Gather up your supplies and you'll be on your way to creating gorgeous, funky swirled patterned paper...

Mix a small amount of cornstarch (about 1/4 cup) to six cups of water in a medium saucepan and place over low heat. Stir the mixture together until it dissolves and keep stirring until becomes milky in color. It's important to keep agitating the mix so that it stays smooth.

stir, stir, stir!
In between stirring, prepare your oil paint mix. Cut the plastic cups like the picture shows and add a little of the thinner. You don't need a lot, just enough so that it covers the bottom. Squeeze in a small amount of paint and stir with the sticks.

little plastic cups cut to size & oil paints

Have you been keeping an eye on your cornstarch mix? After it has turned that milky color, it's time to transfer it to a glass dish, like a Pyrex bowl. It's time to let the mixture cool a bit so it can "set". This would be a good time to pick the paper that you want to marbleize.

"set" cornstarch mixture & mixed paints
Drip a bit of whichever paint colors you'd like to use onto the now-cooled surface of the glass dish. Swirl the colors together with the wooden stick, how ever much or little you want, depending on the effect you are going for.

Dip your paper or card stock lightly onto the surface of your paint/cornstarch mixture and lift up.

Groovy.
Presto! Look at your awesome marbleized pattern! Place your paper pieces onto paper towels to dry for a bit. Later on you will be rinsing off the cornstarch mix with cold water. It is important not to let it dry or it will flake off later on.

Have fun!