Ink Studies: Background & Method

Suminagashi is a Japanese paper-marbelling technique that originated in Japan in the 12th century. It involves alternating between dipping a brush laden with sumi ink and a brush laden with a surfectant into a tray of water to create concentric rings. The ink is then swirled using a human hair or fanned to create swirling patterns. Finally a sheet of rice paper coated in alum is laid onto the water to create a one-off print of the design. For this studio I developed a simplified rulebased method for creating similar ink studies. Troubleshooting involved trying different inks (acrylic and alcohol-based inks didn’t float) different surfectants, and different papers (regular printer paper didn’t absorb the ink, watercolour paper was too stiff). As coating the paper with alum was too expensive and time consuming, I skipped this step.

Materials required:

- A tray of water - I part dishwashing liquid in 20 parts water (surfectant) - Black oil-based Indian Ink - 2 pointed paint brushes - Japanese rice paper Method:

1. Fill a tray with water

2. Dip a brush laden with ink no more than 1mm into the surface of the water to create a black floating circle 3. Dip a brush laden with surfectant into the centre of the floating ink circle. This will push the ink into a ring.

4. Repeat alternating between ink and surfectant to create concentric rings

5. Swirl the surface of the water by blowing on it through a straw.

6. Carefully lay a sheet of rice paper on the surface of the water and leave for 5 seconds. The smooth side of the rice paper sheet should be facing down.

7. Remove the paper, rinse under running water and lay to dry.

8. Discard the water before making another print.