Biography

Born on 25.09.1961 in Istanbul and started in 1998 working on marbling, when I was working at the National Research Center in Turkey. My main work was related to the physical background of the techniques and chemical details for this art. I worked according to classical
methods and patterns for several years. Now I am looking for different uses of those methods
and to create new interpretations. As the other artists involved in this subject, I am also an alone working person.

Workshop Demonstration

Ebru Printing on Water
The art of marbling (or Ebru) was started in the 1000′s, either in Turkey or Persia, though the earliest marbled papers still in existence are Turkish ones from the 1400′s. They were used for decorative purposes, and also as a background for official documents and signatures, to prevent erasure and forgery. The art was taken to Western Europe by the crusaders, and by the 1600′s, France and the Netherlands had become well known for the quality of their papers. Their marbling became an essential part of bookbinding, with the papers being placed on the inside covers of all fine books, which is still one of the main uses of marbling today. The intricate patterns of the papers were used to cover the folds, strings, and glue marks of the bindings, and also to serve as an aesthetic transition from the dark leather covers to the white pages inside. The marblers’ guilds were separate from the bookbinders’ guilds, who were forever spying on the marblers, trying to discover the techniques of marbling to avoid the high cost of their papers. So for centuries, the marblers often had to do their work at night in secret laboratories, behind locked doors, and hardly anyone could hope to learn the art unless he was born into a marbling family.
This will be a short demonstration of marbling related to printmaking art and an introduction to its equipment. As we try to go to the water based techniques today, many masters and artists worked with water based materials on water surface to create new dimensions before.
It is a traditional and old art, present artists are involving to amalgamate it with other techniques like painting. But marbling is unique in the creation and there are a lot of possibilities to use.