The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-08-23
MARsLelnNo PAPER
Dexteious Manipulation Of Gum Senegal
Does the Work.

One of the funniest things that any
body ever imagined In this world was
the notion Of marbling paper. That Is
the name applied to the sort of red and /
vari-colored ornamentation ON the edges
Of nicely bound books, and ON their
bindings, too, sometimes Every one
has observed such markings, but it is /
safe to say that not one person out Of
10000 has ever taken the trouble to spec
ulate as TO how the effect is produced |
There is nothing commonplace about
the process. On the contrary it is
marvel worthy Of contemplation by the
aesthetic and the sage You can see the
thing done any time you please at the
government printing Office if you care
to ask the privilege.
There is tree in Senegal, Africa, from
which exudes a gum, just as any other
sort Of gum exudes from a cherry or
other kind Of tree. The natives of Sene-
gal collect the gum from this peculiar
tree and sell it to contractors, who send
it all over the world in the shape Of lit
tie hard Jumps. 1t is commercially
known as "gum Senegal" The most
important use for it is this one of mar
bling paper.
For this purpose a solution is made Of
the gum in water. A tank say four feet
long and two feet wide, is filed with the
solution, and then the operation is ready
to be performed At the government
printing Office you can see it done any
day; the courteous attendant in charge
will show you how he does it.
To begin with, You win see nothing
but tank Of a foot or SO in depth filled
with a liquid not especially descibable.
On shelf close by are half dozen
paint pots filed with most brilliant
water colors. The operator takes the
blue brush and sprinlsles the surface of
the liquid in the tank with drops Of that
color. Then he seizes the brush from
the vermilion pot and sprinlSles a spat-
ter of bright red also. Next he reaches
for the green and distributes that Final
ly sprinkling of yellow is employed to
wind up with.
Now the expert takes a long stick
armed with fine teeth like a comb, and
with It combs the surface of the liquid
in the tank just once from one end to
the other. Then he gives it a single
comb crosswise. The result Of this is
most curious mingling of the blue, YER
million, green and yellow. Next, on the
surface of the fluid he carefully lays a
sheet of white paper, and lifts it off
| again by one corner. Lo, the sheet has
received a reproduction of the water
color pattern from the liquid most elab-
crate and most beautiful. To reproduce
it, even imperfectly, by hand would take
months of labor. Each color in the pat
tern is as distinct and brilliant as water
colors can possibly be.
This, however, is but a simple pattern,
The expert takes small comb with wire
teeth and makes a wiggle waggle over
the surface Of the mixture He lays
down another white sheet upon it, and
| behold, Il lovely design resembling a col
I lection of conventionalized peacocks
feathers appears Another wiggle wag-
gle of the wire comb and a sheet SINH
larly treated exhibits a series of gor-
geous arabesques altogether beyond de-
scription rs to their brilliance and in
tricacy. But this is not all.
The operator stirs up the liquid in the
tank again, so that all the colors disap-
pear. Then he chooses other paints,
making green the predominant one, and
sprinkles them over the surface. AS a
magician might exercise his wand over
a rejecting pool he disturbs the smooth
solution with the wires, and weird and
fantastic designs spring into view upon
the white sheets that he floats for an in
slant and then lifts from the fluid
Giants, hobgoblins and monsters of al
degrees pursue each other across tbs
paper with glaring eyes and contorted
attitudes.
When you were a little boy or girl per
haps you have rubbed with your slate
pencil upon your school slate, and theI
with noistened finger spread the
Whitley substance over the wooden bound
stratum of plutonic mineral. You have
wondered then to see what astonishing
demons and creatures inconceivabl'
started out upon the slate, caught by the
eye of your imagination. 1t is the sam,
way with the work of the artist il
marbling for books, though he does no
dare to produce such fantastic things t,
please the popular taste. Only the com
monplace sort of marbling does ont
find ON books and such things; whateve
extraordinary the expert produces h,
keeps for himself, perhaps, to show wha
wonderful result the accidental minglinl
of random tints ON a solution of gun
Senegal will bring forth. Washington
| Star.