Simple Suminagashi – A Demonstration
March 24, 2012
The Japanese marbling technique of Suminagashi is demonstrated in this video by Blick Studios. I could spend a day doing this and have a treasure trove of collage papers, not to mention journal page backgrounds, note cards, or handmade book covers.
I hope you enjoy this and will bookmark it for future experiments.
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An Artist's Journal 
What a cool technique, thank you for sharing it!
Glad you liked that, Jane. I hope we both get to try it soon.
It’s a lot of fun to see the design that gets transfered. I’ve tried it a few times with acrylics and had marginal success. One day I’ll get some proper inks and play again. Best of success to you!
Thanks, Nicole!
Nicole, amazing that I’ve never tried marbling. It’s amazing if you knew me and all the things I’ve experimented with! 🙂
LOL — I love your experimenting nature. I do my own and love the unexpected things it brings. 🙂
Nicole, I am definitely going to take a day out and just do some of these.
Like marbeling, this is a very meditative process. you can also do it with sumi ink and a small omount of diluted Photo-Flo or Jet-dry (for dishwashers). One brush for the ink, one brush for the surfactant, back and forth, then use a bamboo skewer to slightly move it in a pattern or japanese masters use a paper fan to blow patterns into it.
Sue, I have to try this! I keep forgetting. I’m going to keep this info.
That’s fantastic Martha and, yes, I can well imagine you building a lovely stockpile of papers 🙂
Cath, you know I’ll have to amass more. One can never have too many papers!
Nicole, to use acrylic paints, you have to use a thickened gel, not just water. You can use carageenan, methyl cellulose or some people use thinned down wallpaper paste. Acrylic inks might work on water, though.
Great ideas, Sue!