To create a new entry seems more difficult over time because much has been shown and shared but then an idea developes and that energy is wonderful. This is to say my brain is working on hopefully an interesting addition but having first to reread previous entries so not to repeat myself. This is also an opportunity to wish everyone a good and creative New Year. It is so wonderful for me to be in touch with so many marblers.
Every marbler who encounters extreme fluctuations with weather, from moist to suddenly very
So here is the first attempt above. 
I do not recall over how many weeks or month his attempts took at arriving what he hoped to achieve. Here another step above.
I remember at this point he started to like what he had created but felt it wasn't modern enough.This lovely pattern was shown on the cover for the Second International Marblers'Gathering Exhibition in San Francisco, 1992. 
If I remember correctly he nearly felt he had it with the one above but the background was too busy so he marbled on to arrive finally at Paris below. 
Exhibited in Les Arts Du Livre d'Hier a Demain (Atelier d'Arts Appliques du Vesinet) Honorary degree for "Paris" paper. Exhibiton shown at the Museum of Luxembourg, Paris. In March of 2011 when Vi Wilson returned for 6 days to help me categorize Christopher's work for a collection and detailing works we noticed there were many attemptet steps to arrive at the final design and as we talked about how he went about it she wrote: "These papers were not created by successive over-marbling, but the different elements ( leaves, flowers etc.) were progressively added to the previous layer/s of color/pattern on the size. The completed pattern was then transferred to a sheet of paper". Vi Wilson
It has come to my attention that a miniature painting Christopher recreated to learn how it was made is in the collection at the Brooklyn Museum: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/127707/Stalling_Elephant/set/?referring-q=elephant=
"Stalling Elephant with Two Riders is an excellent example of a painting produced by the stencil method, in this case by means of four different stencils. While all four marblings are in tarakli-ebru pattern and were made with the same comb, variety was achieved by combing the pattern in varying directions and by using different colors for each marbling. The marbler used a single comb with a pin spacing of approximately one millimeter. The two riders were produced with the first stencil, the top blanket was shaped by the second stencil, and the under blanket by the third; the fourth stencil created the elephant's body. After each of these stencil applications, the marbled paper was thoroughly rinsed, dried, pressed, and recoated with a solution of alum. The fourth pattern is particular interesting because several "skips," long solid lines, appear in the tarakli-ebru pattern. A skip results when a marbler lifts the comb out of the size for a short interval and puts it in again as he pulls the comb across the colors. (Skips are also prominent in the marbling of the four paintings of emaciated horses.) Obviously the artist gave a great deal of thought to how he could achieve life and movement in his painting through marbling. After the marbling was completed, the remaining details were drawn in by hand. The stencils need not have been applied in the order given here, but I found that using them in any other sequence would have meant covering a larger area at each marbling to mask what had been marbled previously. In those marbling processes where a stencil must be glued onto previously marbled areas of the paper, great care must be exercised while soaking and peeling away the stencil; removing the stencil too quickly could damage the marbling." (Christopher in Fine Print, in above mentioned issue.
Christopher's passion for learning, the challenges of what had been done hundreds of years before him, the joy of discovering and sharing and now being quoted in a museum surely would make him smile and be proud. I want to thank Jake Benson for inspiring this entry by letting me know of the piece's web access.
At first Christopher's goal was to be able to make patterned papers with the intend of selling them as endpapers. For years we searched in Bookstores, Libraries, Art stores and the like to find patterns or the history of them.
And in 1980 Dr. Binney again thanks Christopher fondly for his help to understanding how they were made because he had written:"The elements in the scene, in addition to their marbling, are cut out and pasted on the background-a marbled, decoupe album page. Our lack of knowledge as to exact location in no way detracts from the aesthetic mastery of these leaves. But it would still be helpful to find a 'willing hand' to fill in still another gap in our knowledge of Deccani painting."**Indian Paintings From The Deccan. A lecture by Edwin Binney, 3rd, PhD for The Royal Society of Arts Journal, Nov. 1979. 
Working with ideas of what to share and show next. I'm finally once again going through thousands of slides that were part of Chris's lectures. So old fashioned in a way today, it took so much time then for information and assembling, years really. Today it's the click of a mouse. I feel it is all about sharing and inspiration no matter how old or new. Using two projectors came close to making it look like a movie and the visuals were inspiring for sure. Basically it is all about how a determined person continues to accomplish his curiosity with enthusiasm and works at it for many years and finally accomplishing it through hard work teaching himself and sharing it enthusiastically with others. 
I am trying to figure out what to show and share next made me think of the lectures and exhibitions I was involved with after Christopher passed. Having been involved with designing his two books (sewing the miniature book), his lectures, slide shows etc. but not the actual marbling. That is also why I'm happy to have been able to do the Tribute book so soon after, remembering his dreams and showing his work. I felt like saying to him "See, I listened" though it would have been wonderful had he known other marblers to talk with but this didn't happen until two years before he passed. 
I often think of what might be interesting to other marblers' about Christopher's work because so much has been shown or written about in a few books and publications. However, I can say when the mood strikes me and I look at some of the papers in my collections I always feel admiration of the beauty and remembering the years of his experimenting with the medium, the challenges with the colors, paper and size. Being in contact with quite a few marblers who have become my friends over the years is a constant joy but in my heart I am a little sad that so few had met him in person. I have friends who feel they met him but then realize they hadn't but my talking about him made them feel that way for just a moment. Sometimes I come across a piece like the one above and it's not to my taste but when I look at it again years later I can see his movement with the owl through each flower and leaves rather than the use of a comb and I see it with different eyes. It looks simple enough and yet I can imagine Chris doing it, learning.
