Pinterest Challenge--Marbled Paper

I'm loving Pinterest--as who isn't. I found this post for making marbled paper with shave cream and watercolors at Bliss Bloom Blog and was determined to try it. I'd seen a similar technique on an old Creative Juice tv show with Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza using tempera paints, but I liked the soft look of the watercolors.

I started with the cheapest shave cream I could find, maybe a buck at a dollar store. I had the watercolors in a little kit I bought a few years back, and I'll admit I didn't follow the directions exactly as given on the original post. I always just read through the post, then go out to my studio with a general idea of how to do it. So-o-o, my results are far from as lovely as the above image, but I'm liking it anyway. Here's what I began with:

On Bliss Bloom, she used a fork to marble with and a ruler to scrape off the shave cream. For the first sheet I made, I combed straight through with a hair comb--it's all I had in my studio. Also for the first one, I used the colors as they came from the tube: Prussian Blue, Scarlet, Yellow, and Emerald.

To scrape, I used a putty knife. I think the ruler would have worked better, but by the time I'd made it to my studio, which is like 50' from the house, I'd already forgotten what she used. I swear it's not poor memory; it's just not paying attention.

For the second sheet, I lightened the original colors with white and combed with a swirl motion, again using the putty knife for removal.

And for the last, I simply added a few spots to what was left of the paints in the shaving cream, using the last of what I'd mixed up, and combed the swirls in a different direction. I think this is my fave piece.

I'll definitely try this technique again, hopefully getting more adept each time. But next time I'll do it at the kitchen sink. I have no running water in my studio and I had paint and shave cream everywhere.

Now I'll use one of these as end papers on a book box as demonstrated by Gail at Can't Stop Making Things.

Isn't it lovely? I made a couple of these as gifts for my sis and SIL and failed to take pics. As I so often do. But I intend to make another in the next few days, again as a gift. This one I'll chronicle in pictures; I promise. Come see me soon for a view of how my papers look in a book box.