Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Paper Marbling with Steve Pit­telkow

This year at PBI, I also took a marbling class with Steve Pit­telkow. I've been marbling on my own for a while, after taking a class from Nancy Morains a few years ago. But I still learned a lot in this class; as always, there is no end to what can be learned!

Steve, demonstrating:

Fellow classmate, marbling:

Many marbled sheets from the class, drying in the paper studio:

So what did I learn? Firstly, Steve made me use eye droppers! I thought, what is this madness with eye dropers? How can it be done!? I struggled and wished and wished for whisks; but I persevered and at some point I got used to them. I also learned a lot about working with acrylic paint. My first class was taught using watercolours, and evidently one needs to treat them differently! Steve also had a lot of good tips for solving the myriad of problems that inevitably occur. It was a great class, thanks Steve.

A few of the papers that I made in the class...

I practiced the moiré a lot.

One of my favorites made during this class, a nice Spanish wave on a stone pattern.

And for the first time ever, I actually tried some traditional ebru marbling.

5 comments:

ronnie said...

I lurve marbling - but rarely get the chance to indulge (other than in a class) - its hard to get the necessary bits and bobs together - especially here in regional australia! Ive been v. fortunate to study with a couple of the very best marblers in our country yeeee har!

MyHandboundBooks said...

So glad you've been able to try it, it's so much fun! I agree, it's hard to get started - took me a long time to gather everything I need to do it at home. But it's worth it!

Barb said...

Ha! Yes, eyedroppers are a different (but totally fun!) way to lay down paint. I initially learned using eyedroppers and then took a class from a different teacher who made us marble with applicator BOTTLES. I nearly had a heart attack pitching a fit over learning how to use this new tool! But like you, I eventually got the hang of them. Only use eyedroppers in my studio though. I love 'em. And your papers look fantastic! Your moires are wonderful.

MyHandboundBooks said...

Thanks Barb! Oh dear, applicator bottles sound terrifying! I still like my whisks. But Steve's class might have convinced me to get some eye droppers and use them too.

Velma Bolyard said...

these look lovely...suffering pbi envy, sigh