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Materials Needed:

• old shirts or paint smocks to cover school clothes
• tongue depressors
• enamel or acrylic paint (2-4 colours)
• a shallow pan (or several)
• white paper
• newspapers (to lay your work on)
• lots of drying room
• turpentine or other cleanser for cleanup

Objectives:

To understand the technique of marbling to become more aware of the complexity and beauty of "accidental" effects;
to "personalize" the experience of G.A. Roedde and his training.

Explain that one way to learn a profession is by apprenticing -- working alongside a master or experienced professional, generally for a number of years. Next read the Story about G.A. Roedde's apprenticing as a marbler and bookbinder.

Then have students try the technique of marbling for themselves. Note that real marble has subtle lines of colour flowing throughout the rock. Marbling is a technique that creates those same swirls of colour only on paper. Note that these marbled papers used to be the special end papers of a book.

If possible, invite an experienced marbler to the class for a demonstration. Opus Framing and Art Supplies in Vancouver, British Columbia, (Phone them at (604) 736-7028) offers workshops in marbling, and also sell a marbling kit, which includes everything you need for marbling.

1) Make sure students cover their good clothes.

2) Cover table with newspapers.

3) Put about an inch of water in a shallow pan.

4) Gather at least two small cans of enamel or acrylic paint; stir the paint thoroughly so the oil is well mixed with the paint.

5) Put a few drops of the first colour into the water pan (a tongue depressor works well); some paint will sink but most will float. Ask students why it floats. (Do oil and water mix?)

6) Drop in a second colour and a third, if available. Some paint will move on the water surface to create interesting pattern. If you move a clean tongue depressor or pencil SLOWLY through the water, you can create other patterns. Lay a 9" x 12" of paper on' the surface of the water. (Try to avoid trapping air.) Immediately take it out and lay it face up, on a newspaper.

7) You can move the tongue depressor through the water again and then try a second piece of paper. Note that the result will be lighter because there is less paint on the surface of the water.

8) If the next student wants to start fresh, use a piece of newspaper to sweep all the leftover paint off the surface.

9) Start fresh with new drops of paint.

* Note: Enamel paint takes a very long time to dry and does not come off clothes or fingers easily. (Comet cleanser or turpentine cleans hands.) Be sure papers are allowed to dry completely.

10) At the end of the activity, clean the tray with newspapers. Pour any water with paint residue into a can and dispose of it properly. Any paint residue can be cleaned with cleanser or turpentine.

11) The next day when marbled papers are completely dry, students can cut designs out of them (hearts, stars, etc.), or they could cut them to size and glue them into their journals or family history books as proper end papers (just inside the front and back covers).

These comments are from Katherine Reeder, great-granddaughter of G.A. Roedde:

"My great grandfather was born in Germany in 1860. In those days, everybody was talking about North America -- it was the land of opportunity. Land was cheap and much of North America wasn't settled, so there was the idea that you could go there and make your fortune. My great-grandfather decided to go. He was eighteen.

"He had gone to school until he was fourteen years old. Then he apprenticed. To apprentice means to go to work with a specialist and learn a trade. His specialty was book binding, and he spent the time from when he was fourteen until he was eighteen apprenticing with a book binder. Just think that you would already be working every day; you would no longer be in school.

"Book binding today is very different from book binding years ago. The books bound by my great grandfather were bound in leather. Some had very special features like gold on the pages. Sometimes they had quite fancy lettering. Today when you print up a book, it is all done by computer. Years ago, all those letters would have to be set by hand. It was a very laborious job.

"When great grandfather left Germany, he went first to Cleveland, Ohio, where he met and married Matilda. They moved to San Francisco and he got a job in a book binding company, doing something called marbling. It's an art technique done in the inside of books and that was his specialty.

"Eventually the family moved to Canada -- first Victoria and soon Vancouver. They came in 1887, the year after the great Vancouver fire that burned the city to the ground. There was no printer in Vancouver so he opened his own business. It was a good time to open a business because the city was rebuilding and growing so rapidly. He did all the printing of books and menus for the CPR railway for when people went across Canada on the train, as well as lots of other books and materials. When you visit Roedde House, you will see some photographs of his printshop and examples of his marbling work."

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