Gozde Karaman: Wonderfully Different Turkish Marbler

It is hard for marbler to standout in a country like Turkey that has tens of thousands of artists practicing the art form that is known there as 'ebru' no less shine on the world stage of this craft. But a Turkish woman named Gozde Karaman does just that ... shine.

Her marbled images are both mysterious and natural. Sometimes simple and geometric as a compass other times as complicated and representational as an Indian headress.  I enjoy going to her Facebook page for not only the marbling but for her interest in history, nature, and contemporary influences in her work.  Once I asked her if the rich history of architecture that she often posted was inspiration for her art. She answered that she found inspiration for her marbling "everywhere".

I've said it before and I truly wish there was a Hall of Fame for the artists of the world who practice or practiced the art form known as marbling or ebru or abri or sumi and that a great artist like Gozde Karaman was recognized in their lifetime.

Combs, Rakes and Beyond (part 3).

Beside the direction one moves a comb across the marbling bath and then offsetting the comb and returning is the opposite direction, there are many variations in pattern that can be created by moving the tool side to side.  But if one also rolls the comb as it is moved across the tank, thereby staggering or lifting the comb's placement out of the bath and pigments, a different patterns emerge.

 One of the most innovative designs changes for a marbling comb in the last four hundred years recently came from Dan St. John of Chena River Marblers. He explains the comb this way; "This is a complete hot air balloon pattern. The teeth of the comb are splayed in and out, the tank is deep and the comb rides on a track 

which is sinosoidal. Dan"

Combs, Rakes and Beyond (part 2).

From 'Art of the Marbler', a YouTube video about Cockerell

The type of marbling comb that is a series of individual combs put together has never really been named but I call them 'compound' combs and or what Jake Benson calls a "drop-rake" (Diderot and d'Alembert).  'Compound' combs for me because I have seen "drop-rakes" that move side to side when you use them. Below is from Dan St. John's Facebook page and on the right is from a YouTube video about the Cockerell firm in England.

 Chena River Marblers (Dan St. John)

 The Cockerell marbling was known for its use this type of comb. What is interesting about this video (1970s film) about the making of Cockerell papers is that it shows a drop-rake being used to apply color rather than create a combed pattern.  I have seen photos of these types of combs (rakes) that have movable arms.

The spacing of the tines on a comb or rake are not the only thing that can alter a marbled image on the surface of a tank.  A simple change in the thick of the tines can move the paints (pigments) on the surface differently then traditional marbling tool. Below in another of Dan St.John's rake made with thick wooden dowels rather than thin wire.

Or even more strange a marbling comb that isn't linear.

Combs, Rakes and Beyond.

Much of the history of paper marbling can be examined through the lens of how the final pattern on the surface of the tank of thicken water was created.  Yes, the way one prints or lifts that image can be varied to change what the final image looks like after dropping, sprinkling, pouring, or even spraying the pigment on the marbling tank but the most dramatic alteration of what we see on marbled paper (or other surfaces) is done with combing.

Without getting too historical, scientific, or mathematical there are some relationship to the patterns created in 2-D paper marbling designs that predate modern marbling (albeit hundreds of years old) by thousands of years. I see combed patterns in ancient blown glass that are 'dragged'. Master marbler Dan St. John sees elements of combed marbling in the machinery and mechanics of weaving.  But keeping to a discussion of the variety marbling combs and rakes used by marblers will be hard enough.

Combs and rakes from Galen Berry's marbling supply site https://marbleart.us/MarblingSupplies.htm

Simply put, a marbling comb has tines that are closer together than a marbling rake.  Galen Berry's site sells a selection that shows the elementary examples of combs and rakes including the first variation of the single row comb/rake, the 'double rake' with two rows of tines that are offset.
Another type of comb has a irregular alignment or spacing of the teeth. Rather than equal interval or space between the tines there are combs that create uneven space in patterns. Below,  the Dan and Regina St. John's Facebook page are examples of combs with different spacing if teeth.

Right away the discussion of combs has to go to how a pattern of COMBING is done. Starting with the movement horizontal versus vertical to side to side or even which comb to use in which order.  Dan St. John loves to test his friend by posting a example of a marbled pattern he has done and then asks his friends and followers how he created the distinct pattern.  I am amazed when other marblers like Iris Nevins nails the answer with a complicated recipe of moves and identification of tools that created the pattern in question.  Iris, being an accomplished musician, somehow brings another analytical skill set to a visual problem.  In a way marbling is visual music and combs are the keyboards and chords that make it happen.


A speculative example of a marbling I offer is on that might change pattern on the surface  of the marbling tank thedeeper it is moved through the water (sizing).