Make your own Victorian Christmas wrapping paper with a step by step guide from our Victorian Christmas experts
Activities: Make Your Own Victorian Wrapping Paper
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Marbling was a popular form of decoration in Victorian times, and can often be found on the inside of book covers. It's an easy but effective technique, and we've used it to make some colourful wrapping paper for your Christmas presents.
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- Topic: Craft
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time: 10 mins
Items Needed
- A large tray or basin with deep sides
- A large jug of cold water
- Different coloured inks
- Paper
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Fill basin with water
Use cold water
Make sure the basin is large enough to lay your paper in.
Step 2: Put drops of different coloured inks into the water
Add inks to water one at a time
Take a piece of paper - we used cartridge paper for this - but any paper that has a coarse side that will absorb the ink will work (glossy papers generally don't work as well as the colour slides off).
Step 3: Place a piece of paper onto the surface of the water
Place paper on the surface of the water
Place the piece of paper gently on top of the inks, making sure it is laying flat on top of the water. Do not let the paper go under the water.
Keep the paper flat
Gently and quickly lift the paper out of the water and lie flat. Leave to dry overnight.
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I am disapointed to see that the instructions you provide do not cover several points which were in the actual programme.In the programme the presenter was painting some liquid on to the paper what was it, he mentioned adding oil to the paint, what type of oil and is it ink or paint both have been mentioned. What was the moss/seaweed that was added to the water, are all these additives needed. Do you have more comprehensive instructions.
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Thank you for your question regarding the paper that Alex made in the programme, it does differ slightly from the activity that was filmed exclusively for the website, here are the details:
Materials:
10x15x6 container for water (Alex used the sink in the pantry).
6 tablespoons of Carragheen moss (modern day powder is easy than the raw form moss available to the Victorians!)
3 gallons of water
ox-gall
alum
Paper: 100% cotton paper
To make paints: linseed oil and pigments (Available from most specialist art shops). We only used pigments that were available in the Victorian period.
Preparation:
The Carragheen Moss takes twelve hours to congeal, so begin by mixing the Carragheen in a large tray or bath. Add two tablespoons to every one gallon of water. To add, sprinkle the powdered Carragheen on the surface of the water and stir in. Add up to six tablespoons of moss to three gallons of water, but it is acceptable to mix less than three gallons as long as the proportions are kept the same. After sitting for twelve hours in a room with a consistent temperature to that of the room where the actual marbling will be done, the mixture should be homogeneous (a greenish slime with a milk like consistency). Note that there are different preparations for the carragheen moss if you order it in its raw form; these directions only hold true for non-cook carragheen received in its powdered form. We actually had carragheen moss in its raw form but treated it in the same way. It didn’t disperse as much as we would have liked though!
To prepare the alum, mix 2 oz (50 grams) of alum to one pint of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then allow it to cool. The alum should be stored in a jar with a lid. After several days, the solution may crystallize. If this happens discard the solution and make some more instead of trying to reboil the crystals.
There is no preparation needed for the ox-gall.
About ten to fifteen minutes before marbling, paint each of the pieces of paper or cloth that you intend to use with a coat of alum solution. Before painting it is recommended that a mark is placed on the side of the paper coated in alum because once it starts to dry, it is very difficult to tell which side has the alum on it. To dry the paper, stack it alum side to alum side. It is best to marble with paper that is not so dry that it is stiff, yet not so wet that it is too flimsy or drippy.
For preparing oil paints, all that is needed is linseed oil, a dropper, and pigment. For these add 32 drops of linseed oil for 1 gram of pigment and mix well
Drop paint on top of the water so it floats and starts to spread out. Lay paper on top for a couple seconds to allow paint to transfer from water. Remove paper and allow to dry.
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I have only recently viewed the Victorian Farm Christmas programmes, and have now been downloading the Activity Sheets. However, with this one for the Wrapping Paper, the downloaded version lists the items needed as the same as for the Table Mats, so I assume they are in error. However, although you have have the correct items listed on this page, I would prefer to be able to download a corrected sheet - is there any chance of you changing it. please? Also in the reply above you mention using paper which has a 'course'side . . . . I assume you mean 'coarse'?!!
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The printable download has now been amended, many thanks for spotting this. The spelling of coarse has also been changed, thank you for all your comments.
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