Suminagashi is the ancient art of Japanese paper marbling where calligraphy ink is floated on top of water in concentric rings and then a print is taken with handmade Japanese washi paper.
I did an extra step with this paper and fanned it before taking the print, which caused the lightly jagged edges. I love it because it looks like a topographic map!
Every single sheet of suminagashi paper is completely different, and it takes a lot of practice and skill just to make a print of the rings in the water. It’s super easy to end up with “Whisker marks” or “hesitation marks” but the trick is to keep practicing and eventually you’ll lay down the paper on the water with ease and take a perfect print!
If you’re looking for some tips on marbling, check out my post Suminagashi Troubleshooting Tips.
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Hi there! Stumbled across your work on Flickr. Gorgeous books! I’ve been working on mastering coptic stitch recently. So fun! And I see you are in Florida. Me too! We’re in Tallahassee for the school year, and at our home in Jacksonville for summer and other breaks.
Thanks Kelly!! I hope you’re keeping cool this summer – I love the watercolor/ink covers on your blog! So neat! I might have to try that technique with the salt and spray ink.
[…] we went down the hall to the studio and I did a mini tour, and when I pulled out one of my suminagashi journals, the Director was keenly interested when I told him that I marbled the paper too! […]