Investigate the relationship between oil and water, and create simple marble art inspired by the Jenkins Vase.

You will need:

• A bowl of water
• Oil (we used vegetable oil)
• Paint (we used black and brown acrylic paint)
• Paper
• A stirrer (we used a cocktail stick)

Instructions:

1. Add 3-5 drops of vegetable oil to your water. Do you notice what happens? Oil and water do not mix. Oil is less dense than water, so it floats on top of the water.

2. Add 3-5 drops of paint to the water and oil. Acrylic paint is water based, so it mixes with the water and will stay separated from the oil. Using a stirrer, mix the contents of your bowl. It may look like one colour at this stage, but that’s fine.

3. Place a piece of paper on top of the water/oil/paint mix. You only need to do this for 2-3 seconds.

4. Remove the paper and set it aside to dry.

5. You have created your own unique marble design! TIP: Experiment with a variety of water/oil ratio’s. How does more or less oil affect the finished marble pattern?