Marbling Memories

A few days ago at the play scheme where I’m volunteering we did marbling. It’s when you get a tray of water, add some oil based inks to it, swirl it around and then place a piece of paper on the surface, the result should transform a white paper to a vibrant sheet full of colour and character… the one I did is below, abit too much red ink came out therefore it does seem to look like someone’s bled profusely all over my paper….





The very act of placing the paper in exciting anticipation on the water sent me back to my primary school days, I think it was in year 4 when marbling became an integral part of our education, we used to back each piece of work we did on a multicoloured marbled sheet. It reminded me of the plastic aprons we used to wear, red ones, blue ones and yellow ones….i always chose the red. Then we would wait eagerly for the next day to see the product, lying on a table covered with newspaper. It took me back to a time where Roald Dhal, Philip Ridley and Jacqueline Wilson were the only authors I cared about. When we would rush to the “big carpet” to see who’s made up world we would be visiting today. I remember the walls were always covered with a plethora of work and various vivid shades of sugar paper. A place where art wasn’t fancy paintings and modern structures, but it was paper mache, clay animals and drawing endless pictures. Where history wasn’t stained with bloodshed and hatred, but was great empires now long lost, the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.

But most of all, I was reminded of a place and a time long gone….