Marbled Paper

What You Need

• Newspaper
• Baking pan
• Water
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• Mortar and pestle
• Six sticks of colored chalk (different colors)
• Six paper cups
• Six tablespoons of cooking oil
• Spoon
• Half sheets of white paper
• Paper towels

What to Do
Cover the kitchen counter with newspaper. Fill the pan with water, add the vinegar, and place the bowl in the middle of the newspaper.

Using the mortar and pestle, crush a piece of colored chalk to a fine powder, then pour into a paper cup. Repeat for all six pieces of chalk, using a different cup for each piece. Add a tablespoon of oil to each cup, stirring thoroughly with the spoon. Pour the contents of each paper cup into the bowl of water. The chalky colored oil will form large pools on the water's surface.

Gently lay a piece of paper on the water's surface for a moment, lift off, then set to dry on a sheet of newspaper for twenty-four hours. When the marbled paper dries, gently wipe off any surface chalk grains with a paper towel.

What Happens
Swirling patterns of colored oil stick to the paper.

Why It Works
The molecules of chalk (calcium carbonate), vinegar (acetic acid), water, and the surface of the paper all chemically combine, causing a chemical bond that makes the swirling colors stick to the paper.

Bizarre Facts

• Marbling paper was practiced in Japan and China as early as the twelfth century. According to a Japanese legend, the gods gave knowledge of the marbling process to a man named Jiyemon Hiroba as a reward for his devotion to the Katsuga Shrine.
• For centuries, paper marbling masters worked in secrecy to maintain a shroud of mystery to prevent others from mastering the craft and going into business for themselves.
• At age twenty-three, the Italian artist Michelangelo carved the Piete, a statue now in St. Peter's Church depicting the Virgin Mary cradling Jesus after his crucifixion, from a block of marble quarried from Carrara, Italy.

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