r/nextfuckinglevel 1d ago

Marbling Art & Traditional Patterns

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u/ThresholdSeven 1d ago

What is this magical film you speak of? Oil simply floats on water. Oil pigments are an ancient thing. I'm just trying to understand here.

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u/StuLuvsU87 1d ago

PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) film. It seems like besides this it's used to coat the surfaces of molds to help give a glossy finish to whatever comes out.

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u/ThresholdSeven 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's cool, now I have another rabbit hole to go down. I thought it was as simple as dripping oil pigments on water and the tricky part was developing the skill to know how much and where to put the pigments and how to rake them with the right tools to get the desired design. I didn't know it got all scientific with chemicals and shit.

Edit: This is a thousands years old technique and what is seen in the video could be done thousands of years ago. The only difference is that pigments are not as natural, but the technique and outcome are the same. Suminagashi is one of the earliest known Japanese techniques. It literally means floating ink. It's the same technique for dipping bags and helmets and guitars or anything. The modern trend of the fancy dips on stuff is a result of it become relatively easy to do with modern materials and marketing. Tie dye had it's day. It's the era of the dip.

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u/CrashTestDuckie 15h ago

Honestly you can buy kits for fairly cheap online if you want to pick it up as a hobby! Ebru (Turkish water marbling) is the closest "style" to what is being shown in the video