The Turkish Art of Marbling (Ebru) on Textile Fabrics: Investigation of Thickening Agent, Mordant and Fixation Temperature

Abstract

Ebru is a mysterious art and briefly described as the art of paper decoration. Turkish “Ebru” or “Marbling Art” was included in the list of world cultural heritage by UNESCO in November 2014. Today, people use marbling mainly for fabrics and papers in many ways. From a technical viewpoint, the marbling process depends on the balance of relations between the chemical character and particle size of the color pigments and their relation between the viscosity and surface tension phenomena of the marbling bath upon the surface. This study investigates the surface tension, pH and conductivity of the sizing baths and acrylic dyes, compares carrageenan and sodium alginate as thickeners for the marbling bath. Then it also explores the effect of self-fixation, fixation temperature and alum application on the fastness properties and print durability results for cotton and polyester fabric. It was seen that pattern transferring ability of carrageenan bath was better than sodium alginate bath, marbling paints have some self-crosslinking ability, alum application do not have an influence on the print durability and fastness properties, whereas, only fixation temperature of 150oC had a slight effect.