A step-by-step guide showing kids how to use marble inks to create uniquely-patterned cards and decorations. It’s art which is cheap to make and great to look at!
Blank pieces of paper and card look so inviting to budding artists with an eye for colour. Adding a colourful kaleidoscope of patterns can provide an eye-catching background to pictures or can be a picture in themselves.
But how should young painters create the patterns? If you paint and draw by hand there is always the temptation to come up with the same shapes, squiggles and patterns. However by using marbling craft inks, a tub of water and a bit of luck you can come up with some superb freestyle random art – art which would be very difficult for even the most cunning of forgers to copy!
The unique end result of applying marbling ink to craft materials can be displayed on birthday cards or find their way on to hanging decorations.
Below is a list of all the items you need to get marbling. Baker Ross has all the craft supplies required to complete the task - they are listed below and you might notice that there are no marbles in sight!
- Marbling inks
- A4 blank white card pack
- A large plastic tub filled with water
- An empty jar
- Bamboo craft skewers
At the time of writing this (7th February 2012) I found that I could buy all the items in this list for a total of £14.72.
Marbling ink is the most expensive item on the list (£6.99 for one pack of six colours). I suppose if you just wanted to make cards with your marbling inks then you could forego buying the bamboo craft skewers and polystyrene balls and save yourself a fiver. Oh, and by the way, art teachers should note that marbling is a good group activity – there are 50 sheets of blank white card in the card pack.
How to create marble art
First choose which colour inks you wish to use – a choice of three colours tends to create nice rainbow-style effects. In the pictures included below, Kate from arts and craft company Baker Ross has gone for yellow, green and red.
Give your paints a good shake then add a couple of drops to the water in the plastic tub. Remember – if you use too much ink then the patterns you create will take a long time to dry.
Then swirl your spots around with a wooden stick so that the colours diffuse (you can see that the red ink has already turned pink). You can also blow on the surface through a straw – make sure that the ink doesn’t splash back and hit you in the face!
Now it’s time to push a stick into the polystyrene ball so that it resembles a long lollipop. Using the stick as your handle, roll the ball around the surface of the colourful water. You should see the white of the ball disappear and be replaced with psychedelic colours and patterns.
Once your ball has been well and truly marbled lift it out of the water and let it drip-dry. Then place it in the jar for further drying; make sure the ball-end is facing the ceiling.
While the ball-on-a-stick is drying you can take the card (or paper) and, holding on to the top of it, immerse it slowly into your rainbow water – make sure the card is completely covered in ink. This stage always reminds me of the way photos used to be developed in a dark room.
By now the card will be soaking wet – you need to hold it up and let it drip for a while before placing it on a mat or some newspaper to dry.
You can repeat this process as many times as you like – why not add a few different spots of ink to your water to create new designs?
Below is a ball which Kate created using red, oranges, greens and blues – it looks a bit like a planet with seas and strange-coloured lands doesn’t it?
However, I love marbled inks best when they are applied to card. I’ll leave you with a gallery of some marvellous marble canvases Kate created while making her ‘How to create marbled craft effects’ tuition video.
Happy marbling!
This is a sponsored post from Baker Ross art and craft supplies.
Join the Forum discussion on this post
