[Woodcarver] marbling a wooden carved plinth

[Classic Carving Patterns]

Good Morning Marcia,
 
I haven't  tried marbleizing with wood carving but we use to do a
technique for ceramics years ago.
 
Working in acrylics we would base coat the work first with a pale gray
tone over everything.  Then using a wool sponge (one of those with the
great big holes that are just great for the bath tub) we would thin some
medium gray acrylic, pat lightly on a cloth to remove the excess
moisture, then tap the piece in a random pattern.  These two steps gave
a mottled type of background.  Let dry very well.
 
The marbleizing fun came next.  Get a large bucket, big enough to dunk
your piece.  Now make several thinned mixtures of turpentine and oil
color in varying shades of blue gray, brown gray, and off white.  Keep
the oil mixtures close to each other in tonal value and color. A hint of
color change and value change works better than a dramatic color change.
So when you can just see that the gray has turned blue or just turned
brown is better than 'it's Brown or it's Blue' changes.  A good test for
the thinning process with the turp is that it is just right when you can
start to read the newspaper writing through a small drop or puddle of
color.
 
Fill the bucket with cold water and add about a tablespoon of thinned
oil color to it.  The oil color will float on top of the water in a
puddle.  Use a spoon handle to swish the oil once then slowly dunk your
piece.  You don't want the entire water surface coated ... you want it
to look like the filling in a brown sugar cinnamon bun.  As the ceramics
went down into the water it picked up the oil mixture in a very random
swirling motion.  We would let that 'sort of dry', which usually meant
it had stopped dripping but still had some shine to the oil color.
While it dries clean your bucket and get ready to dip again with a new
color.  You can use as many oil colors as you want, but three usually
was a good number.
 
With ceramics there is a hole in the bottom of the piece where the mold
opening was, which was great for holding on to during the dipping
process.  With a wood carving you might want to add a eye hook to the
bottom both for holding and for hanging while it drips.
 
Once you have several swirled oil colors added and the piece has again
'sort of dried' use an old toothbrush and add just a few splatters of
whatever oil mixture you have left over.  When you are done you will
have a varied background of shades of gray with pale and changing swirls
of oil gray tones, then a few spots-splatters of more solid oil color.
Plus as you start with the piece entirely coated with acrylics and you
are only dipping the work not soaking the work, the wood shouldn't get
excessively wet in the process.
 
This is fun to do, but PLEASE practice it first on something you don't
mind ruining as it does take a little practice to get the oil to swirl
just right.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Susan
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net
[mailto:woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net] On Behalf Of maricha
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 4:16 AM
To: [Woodcarver]
Subject: [Woodcarver] marbling a wooden carved plinth


hi folks,
am experimenting with different effects on bases and plinths for my
work... have been able to ebonize quite well, bronze effect quite no
problem, but am having difficulty with the marblelizing effect? if any
one has any suggestions, your help would be much appreciated./   thanks
in advance.
cheers
maricha
http://www.oldjoe.org/MarichOxley/html

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