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HomeArt SuppliesJacquard Marbling Kit |
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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 5 customer reviews )
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23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 Marbling starter kit that needs to be supplemented Aug 04, 2009
By E. A. Lovitt
"starmoth"
This kit has been assembled for those of us who would like to try our hand at marbling paper or cloth.
It contains:
* Six ½ oz. bottles of marbling colors (red, blue, yellow, black, green, white). Each bottle is topped with a dropper, so that you can squeeze the color directly onto the size (the gelatinous substance that the colors float on top of--if you're lucky). The white color that came with this kit was grainy. I suspect it had partially dried in the bottle. The black and green wanted to sink, but this tendency could have been due to the humidity or temperature. Size (the gel that supports the colors) is very temperamental
* 5 oz. Alum Mordant--this is what you spray onto your paper to prepare it for marbling. Otherwise, the colors won't stick to the paper
* 2 oz. Methocel--Blend this ingredient with warm water to make your size. I didn't use the methocel that came with this kit. I preferred making my size with Carrageenan, which had to be bought separately
* Instructions on how to prepare your cloth or paper, and size. You are also instructed on how to make some of the most common marbling patterns such as `stone,' `get-gel,' or `rake Nonpareil.' Finally, you are taught how to pick up your pattern on your paper or fabric, rinse it, and then clean up afterwards (the hardest part!)
There are items that this Jacquard Marbling Kit does not include, which you will have to purchase or make separately:
* Paper. I have successfully marbled 140 lb. hot-pressed watercolor paper, and 110 lb. white card stock (for laser printer), after treating it with the alum mordant
* A pan in which to float your size (I used a small plastic kitty litter pan)
* A board to support your marbled paper while rinsing off the excess color
* Various jugs to mix up your alum mordant and size (I used plastic milk bottles)
* Paper drying rack (I used wire shelving, but non-rusting screens would work. You can even hang your paper to dry over a clothesline)
* A board (I used an old wooden ruler) to skim the crud off of your size. You can reuse your size if you skim it between marbling patterns
* Whisks, combs, and rakes to draw your patterns in the colors floating on the size. These can be purchased separately or constructed out of T-pins and strips of wood
* Lots and lots of old newspaper to protect your working surface, clean up splatters, and skim off your size (wrap strips of it around your skimming board)
Marbling is complicated, but fun, and you can make some seriously beautiful patterns on your cloth or paper. I use my marbled paper to fashion greeting cards.
I strongly suggest that you supplement the instructions that come with this Jacquard Marbling kit. I can recommend Diane and Paul Maurer's books: An introduction to carrageenan and watercolor marbling and Marbling: A Complete Guide to Creating Beautiful Patterned Papers and Fabrics. A couple of other, less detailed texts are: Gabriele Grünebaum's How to Marbleize Paper: Step-by-Step Instructions for 12 Traditional Patterns (Other Paper Crafts); and a 19-page guide by Christine Cox, "Paper Marbling Patterns and How-To" from www.volcanoarts.biz (where I also bought most of my marbling supplies).
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Meh. Dec 22, 2011
By Bree
So much work for a very weak and not vivid product. The prints were pale and "watercolory" looking, an I was really going for something more rich. I wouldn't have minded all the chemical mixing, and paper prepping that you have to do if the result were worth it, but it wasn't. I dont really recommend this product to anyone. I am going to look for a different brand.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Huge Waste of Time Sep 12, 2010
By Oh The Pain
This is a tiny kit. Just a single page of instructions. No tools - just alum, methocel and 6 colors. It seemed like an inexpensive way to get started with a reasonable range of colors. Unfortunately, the paint is of terrible quality. The white barely has any pigment in it. The green and yellow were dry and wouldn't spread. After my first attempt the paint sunk and mixed in with the methocel solution and it had to be discarded. The paint ran on my sheet and the result was a smeared mess. The mixtures were properly mixed 24 hours ahead.
Paper marbling is complicated and time-consuming. It requires a lot of preparation, much of which needs to be done a day ahead. Unless you have time to waste, I would look elsewhere. There is no information about this kit on their site, BTW.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Don't waste your money... May 09, 2012
By Dreamer23
The inks are very poor quality. They are too thick out of the bottle, and when you dilute them with even a TINY amount of water, they come out very faint. They seemto have VERY low pigment density, even worse than "student grade" acrylics.
The Methocel is VERY tempermental. I heated half a gallon of water and mixed it 50/50 with room-temp water (all distilled from a jug) and put it in a restaurant-grade blender with the methocel for nearly 10 minutes and only about half of it it went into solution, leaving a 1/4" thick layer of gooey slime on the top of my pitcher of size that I had to skin off with a spoon. I'm a letterpress printer and paper maker with nearly a decade of experience in those areas--I KNOW how to size/mordant paper and mix methocel--but the methocel that comes with this kit is just trash.
I ended up tossing the inks and mixing up colors using Golden and Daler-Rowney acrylics, to get a few sheets of useable marbled paper from my gallon of size.
VERY disappointing...
Marbling requires good-quality inks or paint. You need to have high pigment density, so they don't get too diluted when you thin them down so they will float. Don't waste your money on this kit. Go to a reputable marbling supplier or paper-making supplier and buy good methocel (or better yet, carageenan) and use high-quality acrylics like Golden, or from Galen Berry. Good supplies will make your marbling experiments MUCH more enjoyable and MUCH more successful.
Making art should not make you want to cuss--but this kit had me putting quarters in my "swear jar" all evening...
 Very fun to try. Feb 26, 2012
By Jack B. Woolley
Very fun to try. A bit messy, but very fun to try. Mine turned out a bit light color, would rather have deepter colors tho.
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