It is with pleasure that I can announce my second design for VIDA (pictured above). This design is featured on a black Boatneck Boyfriend Tee with dolman sleeves.

Years ago, on a visit to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, I saw a demonstration on how to make marbled paper at the The Printing Office there. I don’t know for sure how long ago this was, but seeing the demonstration definitely made on impression on me.  I found the process very interesting and the resulting designs to be very intricate and appealing.

Marbled papers were used in book binding in the old days. The technique for creating these papers involved floating paints on the surface of a tray of water, using combs or a stylus of some sort to make designs in the paint, and then transferring the floating paint design onto paper and allowing it to dry. There’s a bit more to it than that, but that is the basic process. Pretty cool!

More recently, I came across some examples of digital marbled papers and recalled seeing the demonstration in Colonial Williamsburg. So I decided that I wanted to learn how to make my own marbled papers — both the old fashioned way (more on this to come), and also to see if there was a way to digitally simulate the effect in Photoshop.

My Turquoise Swirl design is a result of my learning process. It was inspired by marbling designs, and was then made in Photoshop. Here is what the original design looks like: