THE TURKISH ART OF MARBLING (EBRU)

Marbling is the art of creating colorful patterns by sprinkling color pigments on a pan of thick, gummy water and then transferring this pattern to paper. We don’t exactly now when the Marbling is started, but it is believed to be invented in Central Asia (Turkistan). This decorative art then spread to China, India, Persia and Anatolia Seljuk and Ottoman calligraphers and artists used marbling to decorate books, Imperial decrees, official correspondence and documents. New forms and techniques were perfected in the process and Anatolia (Today’s Turkey) remained the center of marbling for many centuries.

Performance of the Art
The special tools of this art are brushes of horsehair bound to straight rose twigs, a deep tray, natural Earth pigments, cattle gall and tragacanth. Marbling begins first with the dissolving in water of tragacanth, a white material derived from a plant which grows in Anatolia. A type of gum, tragacanth gives the water a degree of viscosity. A vessel with the approximate dimensions of the paper to be marbled is filled with this liquid to depth of about six centimeters.

At the same time, earth-based dyes in various colors are thoroughly crushed with a specially-shaped pestle on a marble slab and are reduced to powder. Each of these dyes is placed in a separate glass jar and mixed with a small amount of water. Into each is added five to ten drops of ox bile (previously boiled to prevent it from spoiling). When added to the dyes, this material help spread the dyes on the surface (like olive oil) and it ensures that the dyes superimposed on one another do not become mixed. These liquefied dyes then sprinkled by special coarse horsehair brushes onto the tragacanth solution. Each of the dyes added spread one onto the other producing attractive figures. A sheet of a paper with almost the same dimensions as the vessel is placed on top of the liquid allowing all the dyes on the surface of the water to be absorbed by the paper. Then the paper is removed and left to dry, while the vessel is ready for another marbling.

To produce floral marbling, a light-colored background is prepared as "Oversized Marbling". To make the stem and leaves, the green dye is dropped on the surface and the desired shape is formed by manipulating the green dye using a needle. The colors which will serve as the blossom on the upper end of the stem are added in drops and then shaped similarly with the needle. From here on, the beauty of the flower is dependent on the artist's skill.

Sevim Surucu performed at the Intercultural Reception in Springfield, IL that was organized by Niagara Foundation on May 12th, 2009. Governor Pat Quinn was the keynote speaker for the event where he spent some time watching Sevim performing her interesting art.