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variety of tools—including rakes, styluses, combs, brushes, or even a single hair—to create
swirls, lines, and other design elements in the paint.
Traditional Marbled Paper Designs
Much in the same way that Italians name pasta shapes after animals and household objects,
some of the most popular marbleized paper designs are inspired by familiar images. Look
for these common designs among the legatorie across town:
Chiocciola (snail) or conchiglia (shell)
With a beautiful sense of movement, the shell pattern is made by forming each coil with a
stylus. This pattern was used widely in book end papers of the Renaissance period.
Marmo pettinato (combed marble)
This design is created by dragging a rake-like tool through the pigments, disturbing the ho-
rizontal lines and giving the impression of having been combed.
Pavone (peacock)
The appearance of peacock feathers is achieved with a special comb and rake. This is one
of the most common patterns of paper marbling.
How to Buy Paper and Books
Shops all over Venice sell blocks of elegant stationery, sheaths of handmade paper, leather-
bound books with marbleized end papers, and a host of related items from fountain pens
to wax seals, agendas, diaries, and calendars. Most of the topics you see in the shops are
commercially bound, and the marbled papers are machine-printed rather than handmade.
However, there are a few old-fashioned legatorie fashioning book bindings and making pa-
pers by hand.
The most cost-efficient and authentic approach to buying paper is to buy handmade
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