Marbling Color Marbling Colour Jacquard

Fixation of fabric paints

Note: When following these instructions, please note that these are only general guidelines. You can use them in conjunction with the individual manufacturer’s instructions that are included with the various fabric dyes.

Drying time before fixing:

For best results, allow the painted or printed fabric to dry thoroughly for at least half an hour. We have found that air curing before heat curing (up to 2 weeks!) for as long as possible in a warm and dry environment gives the best results. For faster drying, place the fabric under a lamp and then heat-set. Heat-setting holds the dye in the fibres and allows normal washing.

Tumble dryer

We do not generally recommend home tumble dryers as most do not get hot enough. Commercial dryers set at a minimum temperature of 250° for 45 minutes should be sufficient. Be sure to preheat the dryer.

Fixing with an iron

When heating with an iron it is important to note that temperatures vary from iron to iron. When using an iron, preheat it to a maximum temperature that is safe for the fabric. Place an aluminium foil on the ironing board and turn the painted side of the fabric downwards. Press the iron for at least 15-25 seconds on the back of the fabric and only then move on with the iron. Alternatively, you can use an ironing cloth if you feel the need to iron directly on the painted side. Repeat the process without the ironing cloth on the non-painted side at the highest temperature suitable for your fabric (note: a longer air curing time, 5-7 days, is recommended with this method).

For professionals only:

Using a commercial conveyor belt oven: 350° for 3 minutes, two passes if necessary. The fabric should be hot to the touch to set the colours. NOTE: The optimum time and temperature required for proper curing will depend on the fabric, the colour intensity, the finish and especially on the instructions of the various dye manufacturers. Please do not try in your oven at home!

Jacquard marbling instructions

Pre-treat fabric or paper with mordant

Paper and fabric must be treated with a mordant so that the marbling pattern adheres quickly and permanently to the fibre or paper.
Fabric or paper treated with alum should be used within 2 days or stored in an airtight container or bag, as alum decomposes and can cause the fabric to ‘rot’ if left on for too long.
For fabric: Dissolve 2 teaspoons of alum in one litre of warm water. For best results, pre-wash the fabric or use fabric that has already been prepared for dyeing. Do not use fabric softener under any circumstances. Dip the fabric into the alum solution and leave it to soak for 20 minutes. Wring it out and dry it on a line. Iron the fabric at a low temperature before marbling. Be careful not to burn the fabric. If you have hard water, use Calgon water softener, one tablespoon per litre.
For paper: Dissolve 2 teaspoons of alum in one litre of warm water. Fill a marbling tray with the alum solution and dip each sheet of paper individually. Leave the sheets in the alum solution for 20 to 30 minutes and then dry them on a line. Try out different types of paper and find out which one works best for you. Some types of paper are not suitable for marbling at all.
Watercolour paper is not recommended. The dye does not adhere properly to this paper and even runs.
Smooth papers that contain little to no sizing are well suited. Masa and Hosho rice paper are particularly suitable.
Wash the bowl thoroughly if you want to reuse it for marbling. Alum contaminates the carrageenan and prevents the paint from adhering to the paper.

Prepare the marbling base or layer

Carrageenan is a natural seaweed derivative used to thicken water to create the marbling layer. Mixed carrageenan will only keep for a few days at room temperature. The warmer it is, the faster it will spoil! If it becomes mouldy, smells bad or becomes thin, please discard it. Refrigeration will extend the shelf life of carrageenan to one to two weeks, but even refrigerated marbling gel can go bad. As it ages, it becomes thinner, and colours that would normally float on the surface begin to sink. Using a whisk or mixer, slowly add 2 tablespoons of carrageenan per litre of warm tap water. Mix for about 10 minutes or until all the carrageenan has dissolved. Let the mixture rest for 12 hours before pouring it into the marbling tub. If you are mixing by hand with a whisk, make sure there are no lumps of carrageenan left in your mixture. Lumps usually disappear the longer you let the mixture rest, so if you have a stubborn lump, let it sit for a while. A sealed 3.8-litre container can be shaken instead of stirred. Using a mixer is much easier and faster than mixing carrageenan by hand, but it causes bubbles that must be skimmed off or allowed to settle before marbling.

Before marbling

Clean the surface of air bubbles and dust just before applying the paint by placing newspaper or a paper towel on the surface and pulling it towards you. Skimming is very important as it removes any residue that prevents the paint from spreading evenly. You can apply the paint directly from the bottles. However, if you want to dab smaller dots onto the surface with brushes, it may be helpful to use small open containers or a palette with indentations.

This also makes it easier to mix colours. Mixing red and yellow gives you a beautiful pumpkin orange, and mixing blue and red gives you a different purple than the one included in the set. White stands out well on your print when you condense it with the other colours into dense veins, but large spots appear clearly on coloured fabric or paper. White is also excellent for mixing and creating lighter, pastel-like colours. Since these colours all float evenly, they can be mixed together infinitely.

Applying the colour to the marbling base

Begin by carefully adding the paint drop by drop to the surface of the marbling base. Use a pipette, squeeze bottle, straw or pen dipped in paint. The colours can be applied randomly or in patterns. Concentric circles are created by adding drops of different colours to the centre of the previous circles (eyeball pattern). As you apply the colours, you will see a concentrated point in the centre of each spreading ring of colour. Waiting until this concentrated point has spread evenly before applying the next colour will result in better adhesion and colour separation, especially when creating concentric rings.

Each colour should spread equally, with the exception of black, which spreads the most and is traditionally applied first. This gives the other colours contour and ensures good contrast. You should be able to apply the colours in any order. As a rule, the last colour is your dominant colour. Experiment with the amount of paint applied to the surface to achieve different effects. When large amounts of paint are dripped directly from the bottle, the final colours are very bright and vivid. When the paint is applied in tiny drops from a straw brush, the colours are lighter and more pastel. Sometimes, if there is too much paint on the surface of the primer, it will run, even on paper that has been thoroughly treated with alum. This problem can be solved by slightly diluting the paints with water. On fabric, paint running is rarely a problem.

Using synthetic gall

Bile is the clear liquid in the squeeze bottle. Instead of the traditional animal product, ox bile, Jacquard's bile is synthetic. Bile helps the colours spread better on the primer. Add it to the paint to make one colour dominate over the others. Bile should not be added directly to the paint containers, as you cannot reduce the spread of a colour once the bile has been added. Add one drop at a time to a separate container or palette until the colour spreads as desired. Bile can also be used to create gaps in the design. Bile is very effective. Do not add it directly to the surface of the primer, as this will create large gaps in your design. Instead, dilute the gall by adding one or two drops to a teaspoon of water (adjust the concentration to your liking), then add it to your marble to push the colours into narrow veins or create small clear gaps in the design. Applying the diluted bile with a brush creates a honeycomb effect. Bile can add a whole new dimension to marbling and gives you much more control over the behaviour of the colours. Note that too high a concentration of bile in the primer will affect the application and distribution of the colour.

Creating the pattern

The design is usually achieved by combing the colours floating on the primer.
Here are some patterns you can try:
• Create more patterns by using variations of these basic patterns.
• Try varying the width of the teeth of the combs or rakes.
• Use curved lines instead of straight lines when drawing through the primer.
• Combine patterns, e.g.: stone on Get-Gel, snail on Nonpareil, etc.

Stone: 

This pattern is created when splashes of colour are sprayed or dripped onto the base coat without being combed. This is a beautiful effect that can also be used as a starting point for combed patterns. Use different sized applicators, such as a pipette or straw, to create different sized stones. Gall is very useful for creating different sized stones from the same colour.

Snail: 

After creating a stone pattern, use a pen or rake to create a spiral, snail-like pattern.

Get-Gel (back and forth): 

Start with a stone pattern, then use a pen to draw up and down in one direction and then back and forth in the other direction over the primer.

Rake Nonpareil: 

Start with a get gel and then drag a rake or comb over it.

Picking up the colour

Hold the paper or fabric at opposite sides in a slight upward curve and place it on the size. It is very effective to hold the opposite corners diagonally to each other. The centre of the paper or fabric should be placed down first; then carefully release the sides. This prevents air from being trapped underneath. If the fabric appears too limp, you can hold it at two corners of one short end and place it down from the other short end.

After a few seconds, lift the paper or fabric by one corner. It is helpful to lay the fabric or paper flat on a board with the painted side facing up after removing it from the tray. Do this quickly so that the alum does not contaminate your sizing, which would prevent the dye from adhering during future dips. Rinse the material under a gentle stream of cold water for a maximum of 20 seconds to remove all of the sizing.

The dye will remain on the fabric or paper. Try not to touch or rub the surface at this point, as you may smudge the pattern. If the dye flakes off during rinsing, either the water jet is too strong or you have washed for too long. After a few attempts, you will learn how long to wash to remove all the sizing without washing off the dye. Hang the material on a line to dry or lay it flat.

New tip – Leave the glue layer to work for one to two days before rinsing it off – this will help the colour adhere better! However, you should not do this with fabric, as you do not want the alum to remain on the fabric for too long.

For fabric, you should set the colours by ironing them after drying (at least 24 hours). Waiting several days (up to a week) before washing can significantly improve colour fastness. Then wash the cloth by hand with cold water or in the washing machine on a gentle cycle with a low spin speed. Paper does not need to be set.

After each print, remove any remaining ink from the surface of the sizing compound. Once the surface is clean, start over and create another unique design. This is an important step to prevent ink residue from affecting your next beautiful design.

Cleaning

When you have finished marbling, dispose of the unused marbling base under running hot water down the drain. It is organic and completely harmless. The colours are water-based, non-toxic and can be easily washed off with warm soapy water.

Keep all paints and chemicals out of the reach of small children.

Tips and troubleshooting

• Make sure that the paints, chemicals and marbling base are all at room temperature. Temperature differences affect the result.

• When working with T-shirts, insert cardboard to stretch the fabric and keep it stiff. This makes it easier to handle and helps to avoid white seams on the sleeves or sides.

• Marble trainers by starting on one side and rolling evenly across the surface of the size.

• Marbling paints will not adhere to wet fabric or paper. Keep this in mind when marbling T-shirts or other double-sided projects.

• The marbling base is very slippery! Wipe up spills on the floor immediately.

• Clean the surface of the stencil each time before starting a new design. • Remove any bubbles, dust, surface film or pigment residue.

• Stars instead of circles indicate that a film or skin has formed on the surface of the stencil and needs to be skimmed off. Prevent film formation by placing newspaper, paper towels or other inexpensive paper on the surface of the stencil between printing operations. • Hard water and minerals can affect the result. You can use distilled water or add some water softener. A primer that is too thin may be an indication of hard water.

• If the base coat is too thick, the marbling colours will not spread as well and will be dragged along the comb instead of being cut cleanly in half. Add more water to thin the base coat.

• A thick marbling base is better for stone or marble patterns, while a thin one is better for comb patterns. Adjust the amount of water in the size according to the desired pattern. • Drop the colour drops close to the surface of the size. A drop applied from a greater distance will have more force to break the surface tension and cause the colour to sink.

• Alum-treated paper or fabric can oxidise, so treated items should be used within 2 days to ensure that the mordant is still effective. • Treated paper and fabric can be preserved by storing them in an airtight bag or container.

• More alum will not make the dye adhere better. Too much alum will cause the dye to bind to the alum instead of the fibres of the paper or fabric.

• Leaving the alum paper or fabric on the surface of the primer for longer does not help the colour adhere better. In fact, the alum powder can contaminate the carrageenan, which can cause subsequent prints to no longer adhere properly.

• Working quickly is always advantageous. The longer the colour remains on the primer, the more it disintegrates or breaks down. It is advisable not to work on a pattern for longer than 4 minutes, as colour that remains too long can disintegrate through tiny micro-cracks.

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