Hey There Friends!
Have you ever seen marble?
Have you ever noticed beautiful, white, stone statues or sculptures at museums or fancy buildings? You may have also noticed this stunning stone at homes on floors, stairways, counters, or on a gorgeous fireplace. This elegant stone or rock is called marble. Sculptors and architects for centuries have used the beautiful and strong stone in their work!
Marble is a natural stone that forms when limestone is heated and placed under pressure beneath Earth’s surface. This beautiful stone is usually white, although it varies in many different colors and patterns including black, yellowish-brown, blue-gray, green, pink, and red. The different color lines on it can look like they were painted on the marble, but actually these designs are already IN the marble when it is found and mined!
Have you ever noticed beautiful, white, stone statues or sculptures at museums or fancy buildings? You may have also noticed this stunning stone at homes on floors, stairways, counters, or on a gorgeous fireplace. This elegant stone or rock is called marble. Sculptors and architects for centuries have used the beautiful and strong stone in their work!
Marble is a natural stone that forms when limestone is heated and placed under pressure beneath Earth’s surface. This beautiful stone is usually white, although it varies in many different colors and patterns including black, yellowish-brown, blue-gray, green, pink, and red. The different color lines on it can look like they were painted on the marble, but actually these designs are already IN the marble when it is found and mined!
Marble is a metamorphic rock, which means it has gone through a metamorphosis, or a change. This change happens when heat and pressure that naturally happen inside or on Earth's surface changes a rock over thousands of years. It starts out as limestone rock, which is made of hardened fossils, and then heat and pressure change it into marble. In nature, marble can develop to be very large rocks, up to hundreds of feet in size! Marble is made of tiny minerals called calcite or dolomite. Sometimes, small amounts of other minerals like quartz and mica are found in marble, which gives it various natural colors, patterns, or designs.
Marble is most commonly used for floors. This has been a trend for thousands of years, and a trademark of the wealthy in Europe and the Americas. The most iconic marble is the white with gray or black veins that trace through the stone at random. Here is an example of how marble can be used in architecture. This is the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, Italy. This was built around the year 120 AD!
Sculpture
You may have seen marble in a museum used as a piece of art.
Do you recognize this sculpture? This is the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
In this photo taken in 1922, you can see the sculptor, Daniel Chester French, and architect Henry Bacon, at right, finishing the statue with their carving tools.
Look how large the statue is! it took eight years to complete and is 30 feet tall.
Do you recognize this sculpture? This is the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
In this photo taken in 1922, you can see the sculptor, Daniel Chester French, and architect Henry Bacon, at right, finishing the statue with their carving tools.
Look how large the statue is! it took eight years to complete and is 30 feet tall.
Marble Paper Project
Marbled patterns are so pretty and seemed so difficult and complex to create but with this simple technique you can create beautiful marbled prints on paper!
Here's what you will need:
Here's what you will need:
- One large baking sheet or large tray
- Shaving cream
- Spoon or spatula
- Liquid food coloring
- One popsicle stick
- Several pieces of paper or cardstock
- Paper towels
STEP ONE
Add shaving cream to your tray and smooth out the surface with the spoon or spatula. It should be a solid layer of shaving cream. Add random drops of food coloring on top of the shaving cream. You can use two or three colors, or all the colors of the rainbow! Gently swirl the colors into the shaving cream with the craft stick, leaving some of the cream still white.
STEP TWO
Gently lay a piece of paper on top of the shaving cream. Try to keep the paper still! Slowly lift the paper out, place it on the tray and wipe away the extra shaving cream with the craft stick. What you have left on the paper is a beautiful marble print! let the paper dry completely. Repeat this with the back of the paper if you wish! Try different patterns and colors with more paper and shaving cream!
STEP THREE
Once you are done, you could make them into personalized cards, cut your paper into shapes, or frame your art work!
Add shaving cream to your tray and smooth out the surface with the spoon or spatula. It should be a solid layer of shaving cream. Add random drops of food coloring on top of the shaving cream. You can use two or three colors, or all the colors of the rainbow! Gently swirl the colors into the shaving cream with the craft stick, leaving some of the cream still white.
STEP TWO
Gently lay a piece of paper on top of the shaving cream. Try to keep the paper still! Slowly lift the paper out, place it on the tray and wipe away the extra shaving cream with the craft stick. What you have left on the paper is a beautiful marble print! let the paper dry completely. Repeat this with the back of the paper if you wish! Try different patterns and colors with more paper and shaving cream!
STEP THREE
Once you are done, you could make them into personalized cards, cut your paper into shapes, or frame your art work!
