Fact No. 111. (Published on 4/30/2005)

Glass Marbling

A process of floating and stirring a small amount of bitumen* paint on water and then picking it up by carefully placing a sheet of glass against it. When dry, the glass is treated with hydrofluoric acid which etches the glass in areas clear of the bitumen.

Source: Dictionary of Glass: Materials and Techniques by Charles Bray

(* Bitumen is a tar-like mineral pitch produced during the distillation of coal and petroleum.)

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