Painting on water, a therapeutic, relaxing, anti-stress or just fun artistic expression?
wrapping paper decorated with floral motifs
It originates in Japan with the denomination of floating inks (Suminagashi). In Turkey it is called Ebru. In Europe marbling or marbling art.
In each of these areas the technique takes on peculiar characteristics. Jagged, vibrant and naturalistic lines in Japan; decorative and floral compositions in the Middle East; rich, geometric, combed European decorations.
Papers decorated with this technique are used as backgrounds for documents or drawings; in bookbinding; for covering objects etc ...
cotton fabric decorated with combed motifs
Even fabrics can be decorated with this technique which gives life to unique and unrepeatable designs. Small pieces of fabric can be used to cover buttons; pincushion, small decorative cushions just to name a few ... etc ...
The technique is possible thanks to the insolubility of the oil in water, therefore colors that can be diluted in oily substances and a body of water only the indispensable elements; all colors that can be diluted in substances that have a specific weight lower than water are fine. But with some precautions it is also possible to use water colors, i.e. increase the density of the water and allow the color to float on the surface.
To increase the density of the water, gelling substances of vegetable or animal origin are used, many are the same that are also used in the kitchen: starches, pectin, tragacanth, isinglass; the same modified cellulose that I use in the video, perhaps in a slightly different formulation, is widely used in molecular cooking.
multicolor suminagashi style on fabric
Ox gall is a surfactant, it loosens the surface tension of the water; it is used in watercolor or tempera paint to increase the adhesion of color to the paper and to make the strokes of color more fluid and uniform. It is sprinkled on the paper and left to dry before starting to paint and / or a few drops can be poured into the color. In the tests made for the video I only used it to separate the bands of color.
ebru style decoration on cotton fabric
The colors I used are colors for fabric, in fact the colors for fabric are acrylic colors, so what has been said also applies to the acrylics used in painting; However, it is good to have a personal experience on the dilution of colors because there can be considerable differences between acrylic colors from different manufacturers and even in the same manufacturer there are different lines of acrylic colors. But the texture of the milk gives a good idea of how to dilute even the densest colors.
more classic black suminagashi
I leave you to watch the video, if you have any questions, curiosities or just want to leave a sign of your visit, please write in the comments.
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