Creating a unique piece of artwork always starts with your background. You can easily create a beautiful, marbleized look to your layouts by using oil paints and a few household items. This procedure is not only fun to do, but the results will be spectacular with each background paper that you create!
1. Dissolve the package of gelatin into 3 cups of hot water. Pour the mixture into the foil pan and add enough water until it is 3” deep. Let the mixture sit for one hour to thicken.
2. In separate containers, mix the oils paints with enough turpentine to create a creamy consistency. Dip the skewer or straw whisk into the paint mixture, and then lightly tap the whisk about 1” above the surface of the water. Use as many colors as you wish. The color will appear faint on the surface, but it will show up on the paper.
3. Gently swirl the paint by using a wooden craft stick or skewer. Be sure to bring your colors out into the corners as well.
4. Lay your paper onto the surface of the water. Gently grab one side of the paper and lift “across” and “off” of the water.
5. Rinse the completed marbled paper under cold water to remove the excess paint and gelatin mixture. You may need to rest the paper on top of a piece of glass or plastic to avoid the paper from tearing.
6. Place the rinsed paper onto paper towels or a clean surface to dry. Drying time can take anywhere from a few hours to overnight, depending on the amount of oil paint used in the design. Once the paper has dried, it can be pressed with a hot iron to flatten.
7. To “clean” the water to use different colors, lay either a piece of newspaper or a piece of copy paper into the water. The paper will absorb all of the excess paint. NOTE: Using the copy paper will give you a lighter-weight paper to use in your artwork!
