Boston, Massachusetts
Member for 4 years
The Progress of the Marbling Art from Technical Scientific Principles, Josef Halfer
Hand marbled paper, 23K gold foil, carbon paper.
22.5 x 15 x 3 cm
Completed in 2020
For Sale - $400
Can you speak about one technique you used and its history in the field of book work?
Paper marbling has a long history, beginning in East Asia, as a decorative technique for writing materials, end sheets, covering materials, and the edges of books. Halfer's text, which was generously given to me in sheets by Dan and Regina St. John of Chena River Marblers, details how difficult it is to turn both organic and inorganic pigments into marblings inks. This difficulty became apparent to me the first time I tried marbling on my own; the results were pale, smudged patterns, with large white spaces where certain colors would not adhere to the paper. In the spirit of making lemons out of lemonade, I used one of these sheets to cover this book, filling in some of the design gaps - and highlighting some of the imperfections - with freehand tooling and titling.
Jennifer Pellecchia is a 2019 graduate of the North Bennet Street School's bookbinding program. She is currently serving as Standards Chair for the Guild of Book Workers. See more of Jenn’s work here.