Has anyone tried marbling technique on their turnings?

[Jack Gaskins]

I want to try marbling some small turnings and was wondering if anyone has experiemented with this and can give me a list of items I nees to buy to start out. I know I need acrylic paint, water, eye droppers and somehting to stir the paint around but I read that you need to spray your wood with a water and Alum mixer to help the marbled water adhere to the wood and that you need Carrageen to add to the water in your container to help the paint float and not dispurse. Problem is I dont know where to get Alum or Carrageen. Anyone have some tips or tricks on marbling and where to purchase the supplies.

Thansk, Jack

[Eric Holmquist]

I've been researching this but have not yet tried it. I've found a few suppliers.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/marbling.html
http://marbleart.us/MarblingSupplies.htm

An early AAW article on the subject
http://www.mceline-artisan.com/article.html

and here is a video with Alan Lacer on the subject
http://videos.americanwoodworker.com/video/Marbling-Wood

[Jeff Myroup]

You can get Alum at the grocery store. It is used to make pickles. Carol Floate does marbling. Here is a PDF showing instructions. She is a member of the Chicago Woodturners and will be at turn-on Chicago as a demonstrator.

http://www.chicagowoodturners.com/CWT/Newsletters/0508.pdf

[phil harold]

You can get Alum at the grocery store. It is used to make pickles. Carol Floate does marbling. Here is a PDF showing instructions. She is a member of the Chicago Woodturners and will be at turn-on Chicago as a demonstrator.

http://www.chicagowoodturners.com/CWT/Newsletters/0508.pdf
I was wondering where to find:

"Complete marbling directions from Carole Floate are available on the CWT website: www.chicagowoodturners.com"

[Jeff Myroup]

I was wondering where to find:

"Complete marbling directions from Carole Floate are available on the CWT website: www.chicagowoodturners.com"

The PDF is misleading. Sorry about that. I am not sure if she has a book out or not. I am sure you can contact her directly. Some members of my club know her and say she is very nice.

[Jack Gaskins]

Thanks for the links. That Carrageen stuff is a little pricey but I guess if it is the best stuff to use then it should make it worth it. Wished they had a good video. I looked on you tube and couldnt find much. Mostly paper marbling techniques.

[Bob Bergstrom]

I just dug out my Carol Foate demo and she says while doing the exterior of a bowl is possible it is not easy. She does mostly platters, smaller disks, and eggsThere are two main obstacles. First the coloring material has to be spread across a pretty wide surface of the carrier. Once the bowl is started in the dipping process, it keeps gathering the surface color. Run out of surface color and you run out of marbling on the surface of the bowl. Secondly marbling up to just the edge of the bowl must be done carefully or it will run into the bowl. She showed dipping an egg and that requires a twisting action. All in all, the process has to be seen or taught to understand the hows and why of the it. Neat results, but there is a learning process to get it right. Carol has been marbling a long time and is one of the best.

[Jack Gaskins]

I just dug out my Carol Foate demo and she says while doing the exterior of a bowl is possible it is not easy. She does mostly platters, smaller disks, and eggsThere are two main obstacles. First the coloring material has to be spread across a pretty wide surface of the carrier. Once the bowl is started in the dipping process, it keeps gathering the surface color. Run out of surface color and you run out of marbling on the surface of the bowl. Secondly marbling up to just the edge of the bowl must be done carefully or it will run into the bowl. She showed dipping an egg and that requires a twisting action. All in all, the process has to be seen or taught to understand the hows and why of the it. Neat results, but there is a learning process to get it right. Carol has been marbling a long time and is one of the best.


Thanks Bob.. I was going to try it on some tops and small lidded boxes and just the small stuff. I think my primary questions are how to apply the alum to the wood and how much carrageen goes in the water.