Suminagashi-zome

Tokutaro Yagi

First English translation of the unique description of Japanese marbler Tokutaro Yagi's specific techniques for suminagashi-zome or "floating ink," the art of marbling on paper or silk by floating color--usually black, red, or blue-- on water and making it spread with a lacquer surfactant to form jagged flowing lines, often resulting in patterns from nature such as wood grains, water currents, or wind patterns in a rice field.