When you were in elementary school, did you ever marbleize paper? Remember the tubs of water, paints, and smocks? I do, and it was a lot of fun, but always a pretty big deal since it could get quite messy. But who wants the hassle when you can get a similar effect using your decorative chalks with virtually no mess?

For this article I used Craf-T Products decorative chalk from the 24 color palette. To create marbleized paper, you will first need to gather your supplies:
· decorative chalks in different colors
· tub of water (large enough for an 8.5x11 inch piece of paper)
· butter knife
· white cardstock
· paper towel

Supplies

Once your supplies are gathered, choose your first color of chalk. Most chalk palettes have removable chalk cakes. Using your butter knife, gently scrape off the chalk from the chalk cake. You want your shavings as fine as possible, like dust. Use as many colors as you want, in any color combination, to achieve the desired look.

Note if the shavings are too big, they will sink to the bottom and you will not be able to marbleize your paper. I have found that the first run through tends to be “chunkier” but then the shavings seem to dissolve on top of the water after your first pass over. The following photo shows an example of how you want your water to look after you have shaved your chalk cake(s).

Chalk shavings on top of the water.

Next you will need your white cardstock. If you do not have a tub or container that will easily accommodate this size, I advise cutting down the size. In a consistent, swift motion, starting at one edge of your paper, run the paper across the entire surface of the tub making sure as much of your paper touches the water as possible. This part takes practice in order to receive a uniform look.

Putting 8.5" x 11" paper in the water.

If you use a full sheet of paper and allow the majority of the chalk to collect on one part of the paper, it will have intense coloration while the remainder of paper will have a muted, more blended coloring. The following photograph shows an example of this.

Sample of marbled paper when pulled through the water.

If you are able to lay the entire sheet into the tub at the same time, you will achieve results similar to the photo below.

Intense coloring on marbleized paper.

Once you have marbleized your paper, lay the paper on paper toweling to dry. You can also use a warm iron to help dry and flatten your paper. After it is completely dry you can create anything you want with it and you will have your own unique paper.

The following layout is a digital layout I created by scanning my marbleized paper and using it as part of my background paper. I can now use the original for another paper craft or re-use it many times digitally.

“Winter Time”
Products used:
Craf-T – decorative chalks (for marbleizing)
Michelle Underwood – “sweet” metal label holder
Fonts – Scriptina (title), VeriBest BC (journaling)
Software – Paint Shop Pro 5
Kathleen Campos – photograph
Other – generic white cardstock

Marbleizing paper with chalks is fun and easy. You will always get a unique creation and can make any color combination you want. Once the paper is dry, you can even make another pass over more chalk to create multi-layered marbling.

See Kathleen's work in our gallery.

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