UPCOMING CLASSES:

Mon, 10/23 – Mon, 11/13 – Designing Soft Circuits & E-Textiles (4-session class) – Online

Mon, 11/20 – Mon, 12/11 – Color in Motion: Suminagashi & Ebru Marbling (4-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: 

  1. Measure weight of dry fabric
  2. Pre-wash fabric in hot water and detergent to scour
  3. Dissolve 15% dry weight of fabric of aluminum sulfate in hot water
  4. Add water in a pot (enough to submerge fabric) and stir in alum solution
  5. Wet fabric first, then add to the pot
  6. 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
  7. Dry and iron fabric before marbling
  8. You can reuse the mordant bath by adding an extra 25% of original alum weight

How to mordant paper: 

  1. Mix alum solution: 2 tablespoons aluminum sulfate in 4 cups water
  2. Mark the back of the sheet
  3. Sponge alum solution onto paper OR lay paper onto vat with alum solution
  4. Dry between sheets of blotting paper
  5. Iron flat if necessary before marbling