52 New Things: #28 Mini Marbling Masterpieces or Floating Ink ART Experiment

August 15, 2021

This weeks "new thing" got my creative juices flowing. My inspiration for this "new thing" was based on an ancient art practice known in Japan as Suminagashi. This ancient art form inspired "new" art created by me, Zach, Gabe, and Isom. The longer this "new thing" adventure goes on, the more everyone in my house becomes involved!

In our house, art and science are fun activities for my almost ten year old. They are interests that we try to support even if we don't love all things art and science. Science tends to foster curiosity and a way of thinking that can help with problem solving. Art tends to foster creativity and a way of thinking that is often outside of the box. Recently, Zach and I went on a Friday Fieldtrip to the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA). Before leaving, of course we had to check out the gift shop. Inside the gift shop (where I could have wandered around for hours) we came across another DIY art kit. Zach was excited for art and I was excited to...try something NEW. Number twenty-eight on my "52 New" is marbling paint, two day home art project.

I have never done marble art. I never even knew it was really a thing. I learned something new and I painted something new. After we got home from our exciting art museum field trip, we hurriedly unwrapped our purchase, eager to get started while inspiration was prevalent. We inventoried all of the contents of the kit. We laid out our art towel, got our workspace ready to begin, read the instructions, and realized no art would be happening that day. Here's where the "science" portion came in.

Learning something new again. In order for the marbling technique to work, we would need to mix water with carrageenan powder. What is that?! Apparently it is a thickener. I guess it can be purchased on Amazon and used for food somehow, but for our purposes, it was added to boiling water. We stirred the boiling water and powder together, closed it up and let it sit for twenty-four hours.

After the twenty-four hours passed, our powder had fully dissolved and we were finally ready to get this marbling art project started. We poured our scientific experiment into the tray provided in the kit. Next step...magic marbling!

There were ten art sheets provided. We split the sheets between each of the members of our family and then we all took turns creating our own individual mini marbling masterpieces. We had pink, orange, yellow, green, and purple paints along with a couple of tools to enhance swirling and twirling. Each piece came out better and better as we experimented with this new craft. All of the boys (including Isom) got involved. What started as a new art project for me and Zach morphed into a weekend family activity. Lots of science and art fun.

We have leftover powder and tools but will need more paint and paint sheets in order to create mini masterpieces again. This was the perfect Saturday afternoon project on the heels of visiting the art museum in town. First we saw art, then we created art. Can you guess who created which pieces? I'm guessing kits like this can be ordered online, but if you don't want to wait for your science and art project to arrive in the mail, check out your local art store or art museum for marbling kits.