Marbling Combs and Marbling Samples

'You had to produce a gum or "Size" as we called it and you poured that size into a trough and on the you floated specially prepared marbling colours. The colour would actually float, it wouldn't mix, and there were various ways of producing different patterns. The simplest way was to take a brush and run a strip of colour on top of the size, alternate colours...... then you take a comb and run it across at right angles and drag the colour... then you prepare the surface of the book, edge with alm, that a size and when you dip the book held between two pieces of board the pattern is transferred.'

William Prentice, born 1923

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Paper marbling is a method of aqueous surface design, which can produce patterns similar to marble or other stone, hence the name. The patterns are the result of color floated on either plain water or a viscous solution known as size, and then carefully transferred to a sheet of paper (or other surfaces such as fabric). This decorative material has been used to cover a variety of surfaces for several centuries. It is often employed as a writing surface for calligraphy, and especially book covers and endpapers.