Marbling...an ancient craft reborn.


The marbling process dates back to twelfth century Japan, where they engineered indian ink to float on ice cold water and print a design onto rice paper called Suminagashi. This knowledge matured further via the silk route in the 15th century. The Persians and Turks had knowledge of mordants and colour, and they also used thickeners made from cooked animal matter. They printed paper and called it Ebru.

In the sixteenth century Louis XIV used the marbling to collect more taxes. Two Persians showed Louis the process as a magic act for amusement. Louis decided the process would be perfect to put on the edges and end papers of his ledger books, so that no page could be removed as it would leave a break in the design. Louis also hired a small band of workers who were the only ones who knew how to reproduce the designs and so no duplicate books could be made either.

The Marbling Process-15k
The Marbling Process

Bookbinding was the main use for marbling. As the industrial revolution progressed and mass production began to take over with lower costs becoming more important, marbling, which had only ever been done on a very small and extremely secretive basis in the corner of the bookbinders studio, was replaced by cheaper and more efficient processes such as heat transfers and screen printing. Eventually, the marbling process fell into disuse and many of the guarded secrets were lost along with it.

However, through the persistence and efforts of Bridget and Brian at Rooftop Clothing, the ancient craft of marbling once again has found a place to shine.

Initially, the process posed many problems. The techniques for printing on paper were known and understood by many people, and it remained only to perfect it further. It was in the printing of fabrics that Brian managed to pioneer a breakthrough.

Special technology paints had to be devised to replace traditional oil based paints. Rooftop Clothing also uses a special liquid seaweed bath on which the image is spread. Whilst some details and stages in the process remain secret, the scientific and skilled procedures enable the company to perfectly transfer the image to fabric without distortion or blurring and it remains colour-fast.

This is no ordinary process. Fabrics used are natural silk, wool or cotton. The chosen fabric is cut into metre or yard lengths, and sensitized with a special bonding agent. In a temperature, dust and moisture controlled environment, large vats are filled with liquid seaweed. Specially mixed paints are transferred to the surface of the seaweed, where various patterns arrange themselves naturally. Through a series of combs, patterns can be dragged into unlimited designs.

Once the required pattern has been designed, the sensitised fabric is then draped over the seaweed solution, transferring the original marble colours into the fabric.The fabric, complete with design, is then placed in a cleaning bay to wash out the excess seaweed. Completed fabric is then ready to be transferred into the drying domes.From there it is either packaged and exported, or turned into fabulous wearable art by Bridget and Brian.

Previous | Mingle