A couple of weeks ago I went to a Turkish marble art exhibit at UAB. Mine Calik, who moved to Arizona from Turkey with her husband, demonstrated the delicate art of marbling, or Ebru. Marble art begins by mixing seaweed and water in a pan. The artist then drops paint, which has been mixed with oxgall (an animal substance that helps it to expand), into the seaweed mixture. While the paint floats atop the jelly-like substance, the artist carefully creates a design in it. When the design is complete, the artist lays a piece of acid-free paper onto the paint to transfer the picture.


Mine explained to me that the preparation for this art is much harder than creating the design. If the mixture has too much or too little of any ingredient, then it won't work correctly. Mine also told me that Ebru art is connected to the Sufi tradition, a part of Islam that focuses on the mystical realm of spirituality. She said that the art is an example of destiny, you can make plans for how you want it to turn out, but you never really know what the end product will look like.



I played around with this photo, and it's kind of nifty I think.

enchanted bride

The best part about my computer at work is that it has photoshop, so I can play with photos when I coughdon'tfeellikeworkingcough. But hey, I'm the photo editor at work, so shouldn't I be enhancing my photo skills at every chance I get? Yep. ;) Here is a picture that I took of one of my dear friends who was recently married:


She's beautiful, right? And the setting was just lovely, red bridges just scream take my picture! This one is located at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, AL. But I decided that this picture could use a little more enchantment, so I've been messing around for the last hour and here is what I finally came up with:




I would tell you exactly how I did it, but I changed my mind so many times that I don't quite remember. But, it did involve cropping, desaturating, sepia tenting, lighting effects, gaussian blur, and messing with the opacity of different levels a lot. It was fun, and I think it's pretty enchanting. :D