Florentine paper
Florentine paper marbling – make your own unique gift wrap
March 4, 2012 | 
Author Paper marbling is a lot of fun
This is a seemingly simple, but nonetheless complicated process because you have to get to understand the strength of each colour and how it changes when it comes in contact with the paper. Sometimes the colours you have chosen look completely different when you get them down on the glue - and even more interesting depending on the colour of paper you choose to print them off on- so it is fun to experiment.
First job – you have to mix some clean clear “colla” (glue) – they use a vegetable glue pretty much the same consistency as wallpaper paste – which you pour into a large “vassaio” (tray)
Susan poses with our teacher Ricardo – the mixed “colla” paste nearly fills the bucket!
The glue is poured into in the clean metal tray and beside it are a selection of colourful acrylic paints – aprons are provided!
Tray of glue and selection of colourful acrylic paints
Using a second brush as a guide, drop spots of your chosen paint colour onto the glue base – where it will “open out” and spread across the surface of the glue in different ways according to the strength and consistancy of the paint chosen.
The paint “sits” on top of the glue waiting to be stirred into thin stringy lines or more swirly shapes.
The photos below shows the thin stripes ready to make the peacock or turkey tail design and the wheat head designs for making the more free style design.
The next two steps involve 2 different large toothed combs – the first you drag down the tray and create an image with arci (arches) which forms the basis of the peacock tail design. The second comb has a double row of metal teeth and this has to be dragged down the tray with a zig-zag movement – this moves the arches into a different formation – genuinely very similar to a turkey’s tail – or at least I think so having seen this angry turkey see off a potential rival (a large cockerel!) in Vauxhall City Farm last year!
Paper marbling classes are usually quite simple to set up as we have two cetral Florence locations to choose from - so if you want to give it a try please contact me on penny.howard1@ntlworld.com
Naturally you take your paper home to gift wrap your very special presents.
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New Year’s Eve 2011 – target 2012 – to still be in business New Year’s Eve 2012
31.11.11
At the end of a very happy year filled with the pleasure of meeting many new people and making new friends in Florence and the UK, I would like to say thanks for the successful collaboration with new experts in their field who have provided activities in Florence in addition to the my longstanding ( or should that be long suffering? ) friends who have continued to support me trying to start a luxury holiday business during a global financial crisis!
To start with the new activities – Thanks go to:-
Alan Lawson for 2 sessions of oil painting- and a 2 days of watercolour up at the Hotel Villa le Rondini. It has been an inspiration just to watch him at work and we all learned a huge amount from his tuition.
Scott and I painting with Alan Lawson
And thanks also to Francesca Reale for providing the extraordinary view over Florence for us to paint – and to singer Sandro Romano for introducing me to her and providing the musical entertainment at my parties for the past 4 years! I do hope we have plenty more of these painting classes up at the hotel in 2012.
Scott and Alan and the view
Thanks also Riccardo Luci and all the team at Alberto Cozzi for paper marbling lessons and patience with my small group size – I do hope we brought you extra business through all the people who came in to watch the process.
It has been a great privilege to work with Dr Katie Campbell and listen to her inspirational explanations about Italian gardens and how they were reinvented in the late 19th /early 20th Century by the Anglo-American Exiles who chose Florence as their new home.
The gardens themselves have also been a delight to see and visit in spring and summer plumage! Thanks also to Filipppo Fattori and his team for driving us to all these places for garden and wine tasting tours. Shown below is part of our first garden tour group who visited Iris Origo’s La Foce in May.
Katie and group at La Foce
Thanks also to Diane Venturini for some great photos of that day!
La Foce
Further thanks to Diane and Andrea for suggesting that I work with their father when I have guests who need a good meal – I remembered Andrea’s father Antonio, bringing us a mouth-wateringly delicious frittata made with fresh vegetables from his garden which he cooked up and brought back to one of our earlier watercolour painting classes . Lured back from retirement he certainly hasn’t lost his touch and he is once again running one of the best restaurants in Florence – Trattoria San Lorenzo is already ranked in the top 25 in the City and only opened in May 2011!
Other restaurants that have looked after and amused my guests include Santo Bevitore, where ace waiter Michel delights us in almost every language we try to catch him out with, and Ristorante di Dino where Lesley and her family look after us all – especially young Barnie the pomeranian – so well!
Rensa and Barnie enjoy a pre-tidbit cuddle!
And a huge vote of thanks also to lovely Lisa Banchieri who has provided inspirational cookery classes in Florence at Amor di Vino - now renamed Pinocchio restaurant. Thanks also to Paulo Zoppi for letting us use his facilities.
Paulo with Lisa and Cookery group May 2011
Lisa has also come over to London twice to share her secrets of Tuscan Cookery with some friends , and you only need to look at the commnets on my various posts to see what an inspirational job she does! I hope to see some of them in Florence as well in forthcoming years and in this respect my special thanks to Kay Lundy who has brought so many of her friends , and her lovely daughter Harriet , to my classes this year and acted as a great advocate through Facebook.
Kay and her friends also introduced me to The Re-invention Diva - enthusiastic on-line magaizine journalist Sharon Simpson, who enabled me to share my first ever Podcast- a fascinating experience – and my thanks to Sharon for that.
With all these new contacts I don’t want to forget old friends who have been in this act from the beginning – especially watercolour portraitist Glynis Barnes Mellish for her regular watercolour workshops – including our recent one in October.
Thanks also to Franz and Isle Moser for producing the Opera at St Mark’s that so many of my customers have enjoyed over the past 4 years. It is so marvellous to have an evening cultural activity so close to home that is unfailingly appreciated by the audience – and the productions are just getting better and better! Long may they hold their position as No 1 on Trip Advisor for “Things to do in Florence” - preferably through me of course!!
Franz explaining the plot of the Opera
Love and thanks to Debs Gray for letting us use her kitchen and spread pasta flour over her lovely house in December and for all the friends that she encouraged to join us there – and for generously lubricating the evening so liberally.
My accountant Haseeb Hassan of Rocliffe Accounting – who is never failingly patient when I call and ask how to fill in my on-line expenses whenever i do them ( not often enough!) and even brought me back a lovely – and very useful- pasmina from his recent trip home to Pakistan.
Thanks for the support of all the members of our local Book Club who come to my UK cooking classes and even regularly come to the painting classes and party that I hold in Florence every October despite the fact that my reading list - whilst still extensive – seems to have been devoted exclusively to a particular part of Tuscany for the past three years!
Final special thanks to Tina Bycoski founder of BBT Webmasters, who adapted my website to this new magazine formula so I have been able to post Blogs and send Tweets and generally maximise my audience through social media such as Linked-IN, Twitter and of course Facebook.
Below Tina at Beaded Lily - where we did bead and bracelet making for the first time during her visit in July.
All of my social media activity has increased my visitor traffic by an incredible 900% since we went live – on-time and under budget in May 2011. If you are looking for someone to develop or rework your website at a reasonable price – look no further – but hopefully you won’t have to make her work overnight as I did this year when fundamentalists hacked into my site and converted the home page to a row of brandished scimitars – Not funny!
I know there are lots of people I also need to mention and i will update this to include them – but now I have to go and paint my face so I don’t disgrace my long-suffering and super tolerant husband at the New Year’s Eve party tonight. …multiple thanks have to go to him for letting me do this venture so far away from home in the first place….!!
Buon Nuovo Anno a Tutti – Tanti auguri e tanti baci per 2012 xxxx
Final paper marbling session for 2011 – a study in concentration from Hanne
21.12.11
10.00 Paper Marbling in Florence
Gomma ready to go
There are probably easier ways of getting wrapping paper for your Christmas gifts – but I doubt whether any are a satisfying as making you own particular type of paper!
Hanne had seen images from previous classes and decided she would also like to give it a try.
Riccardo suggested a “Tutti Fruiti” approach, which certainly created a colourful affect -if “un po particolare”!!
In the picture above – plenty of paint in place – time to mix it all up!
And after mixing gently drag down this handmade “comb” to create “archi” - this is where I feel I need longer arms!
Dragging comb down for Arches
A finally, use an even more unlikely looking home made comb to make the peacock’s tails!
Peacock tails - and a smile
The finished article and now we have a cheerrful and satisfied customer – only two more pieces to decorate!!
Second attempt - a satisfied customer
Florentine Paper marbling Wednesday 21 December
9/11/11
For a memorable Christmas present for someone special – why not wrap it in your own special Florentine Christmas marbled wrapping paper?
Brad looks pleased with his paper
So far in 2011 our paper makers have selected bright colours and haven’t risked much gold or silver – it is a much more intense colour – but for Christmas time why not?
Also available are bright reds and greens – we could make some fabulous paper for that special present you are planning to leave under the Christmas tree – so long as the present isn’t made of chocolate and you don’t have a furry friend of a canine nature that is!!!!!
On 21 December 2011 -at 10am join us for Florentine Christmas paper marbling with Beyond the Yalla Dog!
This year Florentine Paper marbling has been one of my most popular activities, simple to do and always effective, there is a certain joy about pulling your own coloured paper off the tray that shows in the satisfied smiles of the participants!
Maybe it is a shame to cut it up and use it for wrapping paper but if you really love it you could just frame it!!
Brava Sofia – a practical way to start a paper marbling thesis
22.10.11
Paper marbling in Florence
Riccardo in his paper and print and bookbinding shop waiting for business
Paper is not only important in Florence for artists to draw on, they have been making patterns on paper ever since they first got their hands on it. Marbling paper might have been begun in Turkey but it has been refined and perfected in Italy for Book binding and frame making and that most Italian of all tasks – perfect gift wrapping.
Sofia is writing her thesis on Florentine paper and wanted to give it a practical experiment which seemed to me a sensible place to start.
First stage - the gum tray
The first stage is making the tray of gum and allowing it to settle so the colour stays on the top of tray ready to be transferred to the paper.
Tapping the paint onto the gum
They the paint has to be gently tapped on top of the gum and allowed to spread a little!
starting to mix the design
Then the paint has to be stirred into a thin line – like knitting wool – before the final two combs are applied to create the Pavane – the peacock tail design!
Sofia with her pavane paper
First attempt – what a great start!
Sofia then made a more freehand design – essentially the same principle but using a thin needle to move the paint in a more painterly way rather than a predesignated design.
the painters paper
Wishing you all the best with your thesis Sofia – I think you have made a good start!
Yet more Florentine Paper – but what fun we had together today
21.7.11
Thanks to Polly and Brad for contacting me after having seen other people making marbled paper on my website – and thanks to Tina for rearranging my website so it is easy to Blog as often as I like, – and thus for Polly and Brad to find the activity they were looking for!
We all got together this morning with Letizia at Alberto Cozzi to make marbled marks on paper – Florentine style!
Brad looks pleased with his paper
The process involves a lot of concentration as can be seen by these expressions below
Tina considers the choices of colour
Today we found that the temperature and humidity really does affect the spread of the paint and the colour that fixes itself to the paper – not adversely but it is different!
Everyone made two sheets of paper – creating arches, freestyle images and turkey tails.
From their expressions when the paper emerged from the bath of glue I think everyone was pretty happy with their efforts!! Polly’s comment was OMG!!
Polly has an OMG moment
Tina looking at the design in the colla (glue)
Tina and Letizia hold up the final sheet of paper from today’s session – very pale and very pretty!
Next paper marbling class Saturday 22 October – Albert Cozzi via del Parione at 16.30 – A presto!
Florentine Paper marbling with Barbara and Laura
7.7.11
Laura is visiting Florence staying with her friend Barbara – who is a regular semi-resident in Florence.
Barbara is like a rondini (swift) – who comes for the spring and leaves before it gets too hot in the summer – They are both going back to California today and I am missing them already!
So for our final day we make some more pretty paper and Barbara asked me to make it clear what the stages are just in case she can try it when she gets home – so here goes! For illustration I am also using some of the images taken when Susan and I did our first paper marbling session last month. It is a seemingly simple but still complicated process because you have to get to understand the strength of each colour and how it changes when it comes in contact with the paper.
First job – you have to mix some clean clear “colla” (glue) – they use a vegetable glue pretty much the same consistency as wallpaper paste – which you pour into a large “vassaio” (tray)
Mixed paste is in the bucket!
Susan and Riccardo smiling last month- the mixed paste practically fills the bucket!
The glue is now in the clean metal tray and beside it are a selection of colourful acrylic paints
Tray of glue and selection of colourful acrylic paints
Using a second brush as a guide, drop spots of your chosen paint colour onto the glue base – where it will “open out” and spread across the surface of the glue in different ways according to the strength and consistancy of the paint chosen.
The paint “sits” on top of the glue waiting to be stirred into thin string lines or more swirly shapes.
The photos below shows the thin stripes ready to make the peacock or turkey tail design and the wheat head designs for making the more free style design.
The next two steps involve 2 different large toothed combs – the first you drag down the tray and create an image with arci (arches) which forms the basis of the peacock tail design. The second comb has a double row of metal teeth and this has to be dragged down the tray with a zig-zag movement – this moves the arches into a different formation – genuinely very similar to a turkey’s tail – or at least I think so having seen this angry turkey see off a potential rival cockerel in Vauxhall City Farm last month!
These lovely ladies certainly seemed pleased with the results of their freestyle first attempts!
Laura with her paper
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