Typology of the methods of creating patterns in marbling art

The art of marbling is a method of aqueous surface design, which can produce patterns similar to smooth marble. It has been used since before 12th AD, and nowadays, it has been doing as useful as it was before; especially in the last century, it has taken the form of human life and has continued according to its needs. Marbling’s patterns are varied and colors are intermingled and create beautiful effects. Knowing the pattern’s features and how to draw them helps to promote and better preserve this art. Therefore, the purpose of this research is the technical and theoretical study of all kinds of patterns in the art of marbling, and its approach is to examine the types of them used in Eastern and Western cultures. For this reason, these questions have been answered: 1-What are the names of the patterns and their diagram in marbling art? 2- What are the categories of marbling according to the way of doing? 3- What is the feature of each group of patterns? This research is applied one in terms of purpose and instead of generalizing the findings; it seeks a deep understanding of the studied phenomena. Therefore, it has been done with a qualitative (purposeful) approach. The research method is descriptive-analytical and data collection is based on library studies, especially field studies (viewing samples by interviewing and experiencing patterns). Sampling in this paper is sequential and the snowball method is used. In this regard, firstly, the important references that have been accessible are studied; secondly, since not all samples are known, with the help of experts, especially gathering information by interviewing them. The process of searching for samples continued until there were not any new existing samples to investigate. More than 10 interviews, and 5 workshops (Mehdi Sohrabi Nasr, Shahriar Piroozram, Mehrdad Yesna, Mohammad Hossein Ghorbani, Adel Mohammadi, Emine Solak, Mehdi Khodapanah, Ruhollah Hosseinzadeh Qalhari, Omid Ganjali, Mahdi Alavi), important books, and museums which have accessible information and artists’ artworks in social media are studied. There are two important books which are in English language: The art of marbled paper (Einen Miura, 1990) And, Marbled Paper Its History, Techniques, and Patterns: with Special Reference to the Relationship of Marbling to Bookbinding in Europe and the Western World (Richard J. Wolfe, 1990). Although these books are good references to understand the art of marbling and its patterns, they are not complete in categorizing and introducing all marbling. In those two references European marbling is focused and other countries and cultures are not studied. By searching in Persian researches, it is clear; there are few written information and sources in relation to this art, especially its patterns. It seems that marbling has received less attention in Iran. Necessity of a complete research and independent one which covers all marbling patterns in sorted categories is needed and researching and recording this subject is also important to education, because there is a fear that this valuable art will go into oblivion and lose its historical connection with today's culture and art in Iran. The results show that there is a wide range of patterns in marbling art- Specifically from simple and abstract patterns to paintings of landscapes and nature. All in all, there are seven methods of creating patterns. First: sprinkling paint with a brush, second: applying paint with a brush, third: applying and painting paint by stylus, forth: applying and painting paint by combs, fifth: double marble, sixth: paper movement, and seventh: paper masking. Each of them has some other patterns inside as subgroups, and according to the creativity of artists, the patterns can increase. The characteristics of each of the methods are as follows: The method of sprinkling paint with a brush is the most basic and elementary one; Because it has been used in all other methods, except the method of applying paint with a brush (suminagashi), and it can have countless variations. Nevertheless, among the grouping of marbling patterns, the method of applying and painting paint by combs has the most variety and control in the pattern in its subgroup. Also, the comb is the only way that the motifs resulting from it have exactly repeating patterns in their creation. The method of applying and painting paint by stylus gives the artist the possibility of painting and causing unique motives. The most accurate and productive marbling paintings are created in this way, and after the comb, it has the most diversity in patterns in its sub-category. Paper masking is used in calligraphy border and in painting as a texture to complete parts of the painting. However, there is another way that some calligraphy and paintings are obtained by masking and marbling several times and do not involve any other art. Double marble and, paper movements are considered special effects on the paper.