Marvelous Marbled Paper

What is marbling?

Those of you who’ve been with us for a while might remember our first post on marbled paper all the way back in 2019, but for those of you who are new, marbling is a decorative technique that can be applied to paper, fabric, fingernails, and anything else you can keep still enough...so, hands off that cat. It’s both an art form that has been literally imprinted upon the foundational texts of the physical sciences and a fascinating physical process in and of itself. Simply put, marbling involves floating paints or pigments on a liquid bath and moving the paint around to create designs before laying down paper to pick up the patterns. It’s traditionally been used by artists and bookbinders over the centuries to decorate paper for calligraphy and bookbinding.

History of Marbling

A style of marbling first developed in Japan between the 10th and 12th centuries, called suminagashi or “ink floating”. In this technique, sumi ink is dropped into water and then fanned or blown across the surface to make patterns before being imprinted onto paper.

Many of the marbling techniques that later became popular in European bookbinding developed in regions of present-day Turkey and Iran, where the art form known as Ebru flourished. Ebru, which means “the art of the clouds,” was developed in the 15th century and is very similar to later European methods. The pigments were often mixed with ox gall - literally the bile produced by a cow - to help them spread across the surface of the water (acting as a surfactant). The bath, also called the size, could be just water or thickened water. Ebru often features flowers and ornamental designs, and in 2014 it was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity :

In 1627, before paper marbling had become popular in England, Francis Bacon described the process in his book Sylva Sylvarum:

And indeed, many patterns of marbled paper look like marble or stone.

Different patterns have been developed over the years, and sometimes you can date a book or its geographic location from the marbled paper pattern. There is even folklore about different patterns. One popular story from the University of Washington’s database of marbled and decorative papers is associated with the “Spanish style” pattern:

According to oral accounts, the wave-like method was created by a Spanish marbling assistant, who in a hungover state, attempted to lift a Turkish stone print with shaky hands, resulting in a disrupted wave-like pattern”

Most often, marbled paper was used as decorative endpapers on books. Endpapers are the double leaves in a book that are pasted into the cover, thus also serving as the first page. But marbled paper can also be used as the entire cover, and even the edges of the book can be marbled.

For librarians, archivists, and book historians, marbled paper is more than decoration. The patterns, techniques, and materials can provide clues about when and where a book was produced, helping researchers understand the history of a volume and its journey through time. The Niels Bohr Library & Archives contains many examples of marbled papers, from decorative endpapers to elaborately marbled book edges, offering a glimpse into both the artistry and craftsmanship of historical book production.

It’s also an art form that’s explored in its own right. Karli Frigge is an artist who uses marbled paper as the works of art themselves. An exhibit of her work was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2025 . Some artists stick with paper while others try their hand at different three-dimensional objects . Natascha Maksimovic is a marbling artist who uses paper and objects .

The Physics of Marbling

Marbling is also fascinating from a physics perspective. Using water or a thickened liquid is what lets the paint and pigments float on top. Size can be thickened in several ways. A seaweed-derived powder called carrageenan is commonly used today, though some introductory marbling methods use shaving cream instead. Adding a surfactant like ox gall to the pigment adjusts its surface tension or ability to spread so they can push the other pigments out of the way, making designs. Ideally, the pigments remain distinct and never mix with each other, allowing different patterns to be made. The combs and styluses just push the pigments around.

A 2024 article in Physical Review Fluids discusses the hydrodynamics of marbling:

You can read more about the physics of marbling here: Phys. Rev. Fluids 9, 110506 – Published 22 November, 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.9.110506

Marbling is a striking example of how complex patterns can emerge from relatively simple physical principles. Surface tension, viscosity, diffusion, and fluid flow all contribute to the final design, making each sheet a unique record of the interactions between pigments and liquid.

Trying it Out

Marbling is beautiful, educational, and easy to try – though just as messy as you might expect. In 2023, NBLA Librarians Corinne Mona and Allison Rein both attended a marbling workshop with printmaker Chris Mona to learn more about the process. To test it out, Allison has marbled with her kids, once with a 3 year old using shaving cream and liquid watercolors (possibly even messier than the original version) and once with a 6 year old with the classical carrageenan method (though the 6 year old was not involved in the chemical processes) and some DIY combs. Allison didn’t want to cover her house in plastic sheeting, so she did it outside. Check out these pictures of her work and get inspired!

We highly recommend this beginner’s guide to marbling (and 00s throwback):

Whether encountered in a centuries-old scientific text or created at a picnic table with a tray of paint and shaving cream, marbled paper sits at the intersection of art, history of the book, and physics. Every marbled endpaper or cover in a rare book tells a story, not only about the hands that created it, but also about the fascinating fluid dynamics that made it possible.

Please give it a try and tell us what you think! You can find us on Bluesky at aiphistory.bsky.social and Instagram @aip_history. We regularly feature the marvelous and magical marbled paper we find with the hashtag #MarbledMonday.