How To: Water Marbling

Water marbling is a popular new technique to get unique and exciting designs for your nails. As part of my How To tutorials I thought I would include one on how I do my water marbling.

To begin with you will need the following items:

• Cup/Bowl - I use a coffee cup cut in half
• Water - room temperature, bottled or filtered
• Wood Stick/Toothpick/Needle
• Nail Polish 2+
• Pad/Paper-towel- or something equivalent to collect your mess
• Tape/Cuticle Oil

Note: Not all  nail polish works when water marbling and it is simply a process of trial and error on which nail polishes spread out and those that don't work which will sink.

Step 1: First paint your nails as usual and wait until they are dry. I am using Rimmel Green Grass as my base colour.

Step 2: Then there are two ways to help you minimise the fall out when water marbling. First you can rub cuticle oil around your cuticles and skin. The second way is the tape method where you apply tape across the sides of your nails and across your cuticle I prefer the tape method when water marbling.

Step 3: Before you start it is a good idea to open the lids to all on the nail polish bottles you will be using. Add a drop of nail polish into the cup as close to the water as possible. Then add a drop of your next polish colour, adding more until you get the colour you desire. Continue alternating with as many colours as you wish until are happy. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City and Mellow Yellow.

 

 

Step 4: Using a wood stick, toothpick or needle lightly drag it through the design. I find it easiest to drag only from my second or third outer concentric ring as if I try to drag from the outer ring it tends to clump. Continue dragging the polish, swirling it, until you get a design you like. If dragging from the inside ring out try to "attach" the pulled design to the side of the cup, this helps keep it in place.

 

You may need to clean your wood stick, toothpick or needle as you continue to pull the nail polish as some might begin to accumulate dragging your design into a clump.You can see where it has begun to clump when I was dragging it in the top right side.


Step 5: Choose the area you wish to transfer to your nail and press you nail at an angle into the design and past it into the water not touching the bottom of the cup but past the surface of water.

Step 6: Keeping your nail in the water use another wood stick, toothpick or needle in a twisting motion to "wind up" the remaining nail polish on the cup's surface.

You can use the same wood stick, toothpick or needle for pulling the design and twirling up the excess nail polish on the water's surface just ensure you swipe the accumulated polish off the stick onto the pad or paper or paper-towel



Step 7: Remove you nail from the water, gently shaking off what excess you can. Then carefully remove the tape from your finger. You will still have extra nail polish on your nail but it can be easily cleaned up with a Q-tip, corrector pen, or brush dipped in nail polish remover.

 

Step 8: Repeat Steps 2-7 for each of your nails. If you find you still have "extra" nail polish random bits floating on the surface of your cup you can add a drop of nail polish to the surface. Wait for the nail polish to dry slightly and then use the same twirling motion with your wood stick, toothpick or needle to collect all remaining polish and clean the surface of the water.

 

I prefer to place several fingers in the design at once to save time and use less product.When I did my index finger the nail polish didn't separate very well in the water so there was only enough design for one nail. I prefer the designs you create when working with a larger area. When I added the nail polish for my second go the nail polish spread enough that I decided to do three fingers at once.

Step 9: Once you're finished cleaning your nails apply a thick top coat and viola, you're ready to go!

I have to say this isn't one of my favourite techniques but it was plenty of fun once I knew which colours worked. It takes heaps of time and trial and error to find a working nail polish and then trying to get a design you like without it all clumping! You also get bubbles of air that become trapped in the nail polish and usually when you apply your top coat they will burst. Often they are very small and don't affect the design.

So what do you think? Feel like giving it a try? Water marbling gives me amazing patterns that I cant create any other way. Once you know which nail polishes work and how to drag the nail polish into the design you want they can be plenty of fun. However like Konading, water marbling just takes patience and practise!

For further information I suggest you try the following blogs:

• Jenny from PolishAndPearls has designs and a video tutorial on Water Marbling
• Michelle AllLacqueredUp has a Step-By-Step guide on her first water marbling
• Sam ThePolishedMedic has a Hints and Tips guide that is very useful if you're just starting out