Ebru is the traditional Turkish method of creating colorful patterns by using a pan of oily water and color pigments and then transferring the patterns to paper. Known as marbling, the designs include flowers, leaves, ornamentation, latticework, mosques and moons. The patterns are used in bookbinding to decorate books.
The art of Turkish marbling, or ebru in modern Turkish, was not practiced only by ethnic Turkic people, as Iranians, Tajiks, and Indians also made these papers. This intriguing reference seems to reference marbling, as it comes from a compilation completed during the 10th century. It is called Four Treasures of the Scholar's Study (pinyin: Wén Fáng Si Pu) or edited by the 10th-century scholar-official Su Yijian [zh] (958–996).
The method of floating colors over mucilaginous sizing is thought to have originated during the end of the Timurid Dynasty, whose final capital was located in Herat, today's Afghanistan. It may have first appeared at that time in the regions of Greater Iran and Central Asia.
This process is known as marbling and is used for decoration in traditional bookbinding. Traditionally, the practitioner uses natural methods to extract colors from natural pigments, which are then mixed with a few drops of ox-gall, a kind of natural acid. These colors are then sprinkled or brushed onto a preparation of condensed liquid, where they float and create swirling patterns.
For Ebru artists, apprentices, and practitioners, art is a part of the traditional culture, identity, and lifestyle. They learn their skills orally and through informal training in master-apprentice relationships. These relationships allow for the transmission of knowledge and skills and the philosophy behind this art. It takes at least two years to achieve basic skills in Ebru.
However, the tradition plays a significant role in empowering women and improving community relations. It is practiced without fear of age, gender, or ethnicity and aims to encourage dialogue through friendly conversation. It strengthens social ties, and relationships between individuals and communities.
A variety of modern materials are used by contemporary marblers, some replacing or combining with more traditional ones. The colors that replace historic pigment colors are multiple and wide-ranging. As of today, marblers still make marbled paper, and fabric, and use it on three-dimensional surfaces. They use the method as a kind of painting technique, and as an element in collage.
In recent decades, there have been symposia, exhibitions, and international symposia featuring the art. Currently, temporary decorations of hands and faces using nontoxic, water-based neon and ultraviolet reactive paint have also become so popular at public events.