UPCOMING CLASSES:
Wed, 3/22 – Wed, 4/12 – Color in Motion: Suminagashi & Ebru Marbling (4-session class) – Online
Mon, 3/27 – Mon, 4/17 – Designing Soft Circuits & E-Textiles (4-session class) – Online
Sat, 4/1 + Sat, 4/8 – Suminagashi (2-session class) – Online
SUMINAGASHI INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE:
View & download my Suminagashi Instructional Guide for basic suminagashi instructions, starting formulas, and troubleshooting tips!
SUPPLIES:
Tray
Richeson Heavy-Duty Art Try
Inks
Great starter kit with 6 colors: Boku-Undo Marbling Kit, individual colors: Higgins Pigment-based Drawing Ink, black ink: Yasutomo Sumi Ink
Brushes
Yasutomo Calligraphy Brushes (I prefer size 3, but any size will do)
Fabric
Cotton or Silk from Dharma Trading
Paper
Japanese Paper: Daitoshi Ex-Thick Paper, Kozo #8 Paper, Okawara Paper, Goyu Paper, Kozuke, pack of washi
Western Paper: Rives Lightweight Paper, Rives BFK Paper
Practice Paper: Pacon Sunworks Construction Paper
Mordant
Potassium Aluminum Sulfate
Surfactants
Kodak Photo-Flo 200 Solution, Golden Wetting Agent, or Don Guyot’s Sumifactant
Books
Chambers, Anne. Suminagashi: The Japanese Art of Marbling: A Practical Guide. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
Guyot, Don. Suminagashi: An Introduction to Japanese Marbling. Olympia: Brass Galley, 2005.
Yagi, Tokutaro. Suminagashi-zome. Woodside, Calif.: Heyeck Press, 1991.
Maurer-Mathison, Diane. The Ultimate Marbling Handbook: A Guide to Basic and Advanced Techniques for Marbling Paper and Fabric. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1999.
MORDANTING:
Mordanting fabric or paper prior to marbling allows more ink to be picked up when printing and permanently adheres the color to the fabric/paper.
How to mordant fabric:
- Measure weight of dry fabric
- Pre-wash fabric in hot water and detergent to scour
- Dissolve 15% dry weight of fabric of aluminum sulfate in hot water
- Add water in a pot (enough to submerge fabric) and stir in alum solution
- Wet fabric first, then add to the pot
- Heat to 180 degrees (under boiling for 1 hour, stirring every 10-15 min. OR soak in warm water with alum solution for a couple days, stirring every now and then
- Dry and iron fabric before marbling
- You can reuse the mordant bath by adding an extra 25% of original alum weight
How to mordant paper:
- Mix alum solution: 2 tablespoons aluminum sulfate in 4 cups water
- Mark the back of the sheet
- Sponge alum solution onto paper OR lay paper onto vat with alum solution
- Dry between sheets of blotting paper
- Iron flat if necessary before marbling