Design Library
Marbled Paper Studio offers a wide range of historic and contemporary designs, with limitless possibilities for pattern and color combinations. The Pattern Archive serves as a resource library of our prior work for those interested in learning about various marbled patterns.
"Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail...the exquisite care of execution."
– Théophile Gautier, French author
Stone
The Stone pattern has been around for centuries and continues to be one of the most well known of the marbled patterns. The pattern incorporates intricate veining effects just as you would see in natural stone. Today, contemporary versions of this pattern are very popular, such as the version shown here.
Shell
The Shell pattern is similar to the Stone but if you look closely you'll notice a halo effect around each paint droplet.
Drawn Stone
The pattern begins with drops of paint that undergo a mesmerizing transformation as intricate designs gracefully emerge, seemingly "drawn" on the surface of the water.
Antique Spot
The Antique Spot is a showering of paint drops on a drawn line pattern using as stylus. This pattern is often confused with the "Zebra" pattern, which has much larger spots of color.
Shown here are two different examples of an Antique Spot. This is a great example of how the look of a design can dramatically change simply by using the same paint colors on a different colored base paper.
Nonpareil
The French term "Nonpareil" translates to "unequaled" or "unmatched". This is a historic pattern that is beautiful on its own and can also be manipulated to serve as a base to create other intricate marbled patterns.
Feather
The Feather is our absolute favorite pattern to create! It is also the pattern from which we drew upon for inspiration when designing the shop logo. If you want to learn more about the story behind the logo, then be sure to check out this article.
Icarus
In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a skilled craftsman. According to the myth, Daedalus created wings for himself and his son using feathers and wax. Despite being warned not to fly too close to the sun, Icarus became enchanted by his newfound ability and soared too high, causing the wax to melt and his wings to disintegrate. This lead to his tragic fall into the sea.
This marbled pattern resembling a bird wing serves as a visual reminder of the cautionary tale of Icarus, symbolizing the delicate balance between ambition and humility, and the potential consequences of pushing beyond our capabilities.
French Curl
As with many historical patterns, this one has multiple names: French Curl and Snail. Here the pattern is repeated symmetrically across the page but the curls are often seen offset from one another from row to row.
Palm
The Palm pattern takes its name from nature and evokes a sense of tropical elegance. We've marbled in it in shades of green and white but it looks great in a myriad of other colors.
Skip Tooth
While marbling patterns with centuries-old history exist, this contemporary design stands out as a relatively new addition to the marbling world. It lacks an official name and has been referred to as Skip Tooth or Gap Tooth. The cascading arches provide whimsical charm, particularly when bright colors are used.
American
The American pattern looks great in any color combination but we love executing it in shades of red and blue.
Over Marble
The term “Over Marble” refers to a paper that has been marbled not once, but twice. The trick is to ensure that the patterns are complementary and that the top layer is translucent enough to reveal what lies beneath. In this example, we've marbled metallic gold over a chevron pattern.
Suminagashi
The marbling technique known as "Suminagashi" is historically known for a pattern of concentric circles. It's a very distinct style of marbling so we devoted an entire gallery to it.
Visit our Suminagashi gallery and shop here.
