THE CRAFT OF MARBLED PAPER
The Les Paysages collection honours the craft of marbled paper. The marbling crafts person uses bespoke tools, recipes, materials and their own individual gestures to create unique marbled papers.
This technique dates to 8th century China, where it was employed to authenticate the provenance of manuscripts. Marbling was later used in Turkey to decorate house interiors.
The marbling craftsperson's production secrets
Step 1
Preparing the colours
Three primary colours are created from printing inks diluted with turpentine, an essential oil derived from a resin. From these three primary colours, any combination is possible.
Step 2
Preparing the water vat
To control the spread of the colours deposited in the water in order to make consistent designs, the water in the tank is thickened with glue.
Step 3
Creating the patterns
The colours are thrown one after the other in large drops, or placed with a specific tool in the water vat. As they float, they repel each other.
The marbling artist's gesture will determine the patterns that appear on the paper.
Step 4
Dropping the sheet in the water vat
The sheet of paper is set on the liquid's surface, avoiding bubbling or bumping. The ink is immediately absorbed by the paper. The sheet is then gently lifted, and the excess glue removed.
Step 5
Drying
After absorbing all the liquid, the paper is hung up and allowed to dry.
" It's by doing unexpected things and making mistakes that we find beautiful details which we want to rediscover. "
Marie-Anne, marbling artist for L'Artisan Parfumeur
