Turkish Marbling

On Sunday I joined a herd of other paper/book conservation people from the Conservation Centre (my new place of employment) at a Turkish Marbling Workshop at Historic RittenhouseTown in Philadelphia. The site of the first papermill in what was British North America, RittenhouseTown is an interpretive historic landmark as well as a center for paper arts, hosting several workshops relating to book/paper arts. Artists are invited in to give these workshops, which are held in a converted barn/studio.

We all had a really fantastic time: this marbling technique is actually very easy. We used up all of the paper stock and all of the silk scarves.

One of the participants is finished floating the paint on the surface of the liquid. There were multiple stations, but nobody minded waiting, as it was so much fun to see what everyone else was working on.

Betty, one of my old paper conservation professors, works at the long scarf-marbling tank.

The weather was perfect for paper drying.

Outside the studio barn, the scarves flutter in the breeze.

My workshop silk scarves.

My papers. Not pictured are all the little marbles scraps I have (bookmarks for everyone!)