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Shoutout to the old marbled paper I almost threw out, 6 months later it finally looks right | Bookbinders - HW Forums

Shoutout to the old marbled paper I almost threw out, 6 months later it finally looks right

I made a batch of marbled paper back in October for a rebinding project and it looked awful, muddy colors, the size was too thick, the combs barely moved the paint. I shoved the whole stack in a drawer under my press and forgot about it. Pulled it out last weekend because I needed scrap paper and realized the sheets had dried completely flat and the colors had settled in a way that actually looks good now. So I grabbed two sheets, pasted them down as endpapers on a copy of Treasure Island I've been rebacking, and the whole thing came together better than anything I've made this year. Turns out I was judging the paper while it was still damp, which is a rookie move I should have known at this point. The carrageenan I used also seems to have cured or something, because the second batch I pulled from the same pot last week took the gall better. Anyway, if you're like me and pitch bad marbling right away, maybe let it sit a bit. Does anybody else find their old marbled sheets work better after they age, or am I just making excuses for a bad batch?

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1 Comment

derekthomas13d ago

Something similar happened with a stack of Canson sheets I marbled in March and forgot about until August. The colors had dulled a bit but in a good way, like the paper drank them in instead of sitting on top, and the alum finally stopped leaving that chalky white haze on everything. Two things are probably going on: the paper is fully dry so it stops fighting the paste, and the carrageenan breaks down over time so it holds the paint looser and lets the pattern spread. Age those sheets longer than you think you should, six months is nothing, I've got some from two years back that still look better than anything I pull fresh.

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