THE MARBLING ART ( EBRU )

As one of the oldest traditional Turkish Ottoman arts, EBRU, or marbling, is created with a technique that consists of mixing a few drops of ox-gall with each of a variety of colored ochre, and creating a design or picture by sprinkling or dropping the colors onto the surface of a liquid that has been intensified by adding kitre (gum tragacanth) or a similar material, and then transferring the picture by placing a paper or other material on the surface of this liquid. This old painstaking Turkish art of EBRU is a kind of meditative art.
The Center for Turkish Handcrafts at the Caferağa Madrasa offers ebru courses along with some other traditional Turkish arts such as Turkish calligraphy, wood carving with mother of pearl inlay, and Turkish musical instruments, including ney (a flute), ud (a lute), and kanun (a type of zither).

Address:
Caferağa Medresesi
Uygulamalı Türk El Sanatları Merkezi
Sultanahmet Caferiye Sok.
Phone: (+90 212) 513 18 43 or 513 31 44