31DC2012: Day 20, Water Marble

Water marbles are hard. The first time I ever attempted one was for the water marble day of last year's challenge, and I wanted to successfully complete one so badly that I felt like crying when I just couldn't. I've had more success since then, but this technique is still quite challenging for me. Let's take a look at what I did for this marble and then later in the post I will try to give you guys some helpful links and tips.

Dayna said that this marble looks like Starburst, and I kind of agree! They must be the sour pack or something cause I think that's the only kind with blue in it. Anyway, I like these colors together a lot.

I marbled over a white base. The colors I used are China Glaze Tree Hugger, China Glaze Sexy In the City, and China Glaze Strawberry Fields. These colors ended up looking pretty different in my marble than they do when worn alone, because they spread so thin on the water that it changed the way the colors looked.

I liked that the bands of color in this marble turned out thick. Honestly, at this point, I'm glad to get a workable marble at all. Getting each nail to look the same takes me a very long time and lots of do-overs. The pinky and middle fingers are my favorite this time.

Okay, so water marbling tips. First of all, if you are new to marbling, go watch a few of Colette's videos over at My Simple Little Pleasures. She is really fantastic at marbling and watching her can be so instructive.

Second, here are some things that have helped me:

Not all polish works for marbling, but I have found that China Glaze works most consistently for me. You will probably have to try a lot of combinations before you can get a set of colors that all work and that you like together.
Use room temperature filtered water. I use Brita filtered water.
When drawing your patterns in the polish, don't drag from the outermost ring. Try starting a ring or two in if you are having trouble.