By the 1100s, the Japanese were creating marbled papers. They used black and blue ink to make patterns that looked like smoke. The Japanese were very careful when they dropped the ink onto the water. They didn’t use combs to move the ink around so they wanted to be sure to drop it where they wanted it. They then blew across the water to make the smoky patterns.
In the 1400s, people in Turkey and Persia began creating marbled papers of their own. Their style was a little different, though. Ink floated on top of water but the Turks and Persians wanted to use many colors in their marbled papers. They added something called size to the water to make it thicker. This meant that they could float paint on the water. They then used combs to create patterns in the paint.
The art of marbling spread through Europe. By the 1600s, artists were marbling paper in England, Holland, Italy, France, and Germany. Most books included marbled paper but the bookbinders didn’t know how to make it. The artists who created the paper wanted to keep their techniques secret so they could keep selling their papers.
Bookbinders in England needed a lot of the marbled paper and it was the least expensive to buy it from Holland. They didn’t want to pay taxes on the paper though, so the Dutch used the marbled paper to wrap toys before shipping them to England. The bookbinders then flattened out the creased wrapping paper to use in their books.In 1856 a paper marbler named Charles Woolnough wrote a book about paper marbling. It told all the secrets that paper marblers had kept to themselves for hundreds of years. They were very angry with Woolnough, but there was nothing they could do. Their secret was out.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you how to make your own marbled paper.
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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
Fold the paper back into a rectangle. Use the diagonal fold to help you make your paper look like this:
Notice the fold down the middle of the triangle. Fold along that line. Do the same on the other side of the paper. It should now look like this:
Fold up the two bottom corners of the triangle:
Flip your paper over and do the same to the other side. It should now look like this:
Fold the corners of the diamond in so that they touch the line. Flip your paper over and do the same to the other side. It should look like this:
Fold down the loose flaps at the top of your origami and tuck them into the triangles on the side. Flip the paper over and do the same to the other side. It should look like this:
Your paper now has four flaps that are attached in the center. Flip the flaps over until your paper looks like this:
Draw a jack-o-lantern face on one side of the origami. Like this:
One end of your origami is closed and the other end has a hole in it. Blow gently into the hole until your pumpkin puffs out.
Happy Halloween!
Unfold the paper and hold it so the slits run up and down and the fold points out. Bend the paper into a cylinder and tape the edges together.
Have an adult light a tea light candle, place it in a jar, and set it inside the lantern. If you or your parent are concerned about creating a fire, stand a short flashlight inside the lantern instead.
