Skill level: Beginner

You will need:

• 200ml can of shaving foam (not gel)
• A3 Paper
• A5 notebook
• Food colourings
• Plastic tray/shallow plastic box
• Paper straw
• Newspaper/table cover
• Scissors
• Item for scraping - such as a piece of cereal box approx. 30cm x 10cm
• Spatula
• Pencil
• Double-sided tape
• Ruler
• Protective gloves

To make:

Measure the width of the notebook (front x 2, plus the width of the spine) and the vertical height of the notebook.
Add 4cm to each of the measurements.

Our notebook was:
Width: 14.5cm + 14.5cm + 1 cm = 30cm + 4cm = 34cm
Height: 21cm + 4cm = 25cm

Cut a piece of the A3 paper to the size measured.

Take the tray and add a layer of shaving foam, approximately 1.5cm deep. Spread the foam evenly with the spatula.

Put on your protective gloves. Add drops of food colouring to the top of the shaving foam.

Using your straw, lightly swirl the food colouring in the foam, covering as much of the foam as possible. Add more drops of food colouring if required and continue swirling. Be careful not to overmix the colours too much.

Take your paper and gently place it onto the top of the foam. Carefully push the paper into the foam to ensure the side in the foam is covered. Do not fully submerge the paper.

Remove the paper from the foam and place (foam side up) onto a flat surface.

Take your piece of cereal box and scrape the foam off the paper, pushing down enough to fully remove the foam, but not too hard so the paper rips. This will create the marbled effect. You may need to go over some areas a couple of times to ensure all of the foam is removed. Leave to dry.

When completely dry, take the piece of paper and lay it horizontally, pattern-side down on the table. Place the spine in the middle of the paper. Where the spine is, draw a line at 45(ish) degrees, from one side of the spine to the edge of the paper.  Repeat for the other side of the spine and then also repeat for the other end of the spine.

Cut the lines you have just drawn and fold the shape back onto the paper. Apply a line of double-sided tape to the spine and place the spine back onto the paper.

Apply a line of double-sided tape to the top and bottom of the inside of the front of the notebook. Fold the paper flaps onto the tape and stick. Repeat on the back side of the notebook.

On the longer edge of the paper, fold the corners in (like when wrapping a present), apply double-sided tape to the long edge of the notebook and stick the paper down. Repeat on the front of the notebook.

Tips and ideas

• If you do not have food colouring available, you could use drops of acrylic paint in the foam to create the marbling.
• When removing the foam from the paper, be very careful not to rip the paper as you scrape the foam.
• Ensure your table/surface is covered with newspaper/table covering as this will be messy!
• If you would like to also cover the inside of the notebook cover, cut a piece of paper to size, marble the paper (as explained above) and stick on to the inside of the cover.
• You should be able to marble multiple pieces of paper with the dyed foam mix you have created. You may have to add a couple more drops in some areas and then mix them in.
• You could use the marbling technique to create other items such as cards, gift wrap and gift tags.
• You may wish to press the paper if it has become a little crinkled after being wet with the foam. Place the paper pattern down, place another piece of paper on to the back, and press on a low heat until the paper has flattened.