Paper Marbling iphone ipad case covers and interesting gift ideas with marbling ( a short interview with Sanem and Aydin Balkan from Istanbul Turkey)

- Would you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hello, my name is Sanem and my husband’s name is Aydin. I am originally from Ankara and my husband’s hometown is Istanbul. After we both finished our PhD in America, we moved to Sunnyvale, California. My professional area is chemistry and my husband’s are is computer engineering. My husband works at a software company here. I am looking for chemistry job in the area. Meanwhile, I found some time for some things I always wanted to do. Ebru (paper marbling) is one of them.

- How did you start doing water marbling and for how long are you doing it? 

I always want to do Ebru since I was a kid. I have found drawing on water very interesting. It is so amazing to see beautiful and unique figures came out from drops of paint on water. I started doing Ebru approximately five months ago. I did not take any private lesson, but I would want to take one from an experienced artist. I bought a starting kit and started working with it by myself. For now, I don’t have a workshop, I do it at home.   

- How did you think to generate a web-site, and how did you do it?

Preparing a web-site was my husband’s idea, since computer and internet is his professional area. We thought that we could introduce Ebru art to other people by sharing the pieces I created. We also created some products such as iPad and iPhone cases with Ebru figures on them. You can visit our web-site to see these products and more.

- Why is the name of your web-site ‘artsycat.com’? 

We searched for an English name that would be easy to remember. My husband chose this one since I love cats.

- Do you sell your products? How are the ordering and shipping conditions? How long does it take for shipment within America and other countries and is there any problem with damage due to shipment? 

We are selling some of our products, such as iPhone and iPad cases, through zazzle.com. They print high quality images of our uploaded Ebru figure on these products. Ordering and shipping is their responsibility and we receive royalties from sales. In addition, we also listed some other products in e-bay, such as greeting cards.  We also have plans to sell some other products on amazon.com.

So far we only got orders from within US. For product that we ship, we don’t charge any fees for the orders within US. Shipping usually takes 3-4 days, and it is standard ground shipping. We have not encountered any complaints from our costumers. Compared to similar products, the prices of our products are competitive. www.cafepress.com

- Is there an interest toward Ebru art in US? 

Ebru art is quite new for most people here, other than those of Turkish origin.  Ebru art is better known in European countries.  Even some old French books dating back to 1800s have an inside cover made of Ebru figures. As far as we know, there are only a few people performing Ebru art in US.  However, we were surprised when we bought our starter kit from an American artist. He also teaches Ebru in his workshop. So far we have seen that local American artists mainly draw marble paper figures such as wave, but not classical Turkish Ebru figures such as roses or tulip.

              

- Which target group are you planning to reach? 

We would like to reach to people who appreciate unique and original fine art, either as an art piece, or as a figure on an everyday product. When I become more experienced with Ebru art, we would like to attend local art and craft festivals.  There, we will have a better opportunity to reach out to more people and share the beauty of Ebru with them.  

- What would you recommend to people who are interested in Ebru art? 

I would recommend them to take an introductory lesson. However, if they don’t have opportunity to have lesson, it is still okay.  They can buy a starter kit for marbling as we did and they can try at  their homes. With more practice, they will get better. I would guarantee them that they will enjoy it more, when they become more experienced.  

Some very important factors affecting the quality of the art are the density of water and the fluidity of paint drops on the water. You need to practice to learn about them. We use acrylic paints, which are affordable and easy to find.  Although Ebru can be applied on almost every paper, best results that we obtained are with water color papers.

- What is the best way that people can contact you? Web site, twitter, facebook etc.?

They can visit our web site ‘artsycat.com’ or they can directly send e-mail to   marble@artyscat.com. We would be happy to answer their questions about Ebru art.

- Thank you Sanem and Aydin for your answers.