Gelgit

Gelgit is the simplest combed marbling pattern and forms the basis for almost all more complex patterns. You can recognise a narrow Gelgit, for example, in the Bird Wing.

Gelgit is made by combing from one side to the other, shifting the comb by half the tine gap and then combing back again. Often, the process is then repeated in the orthogonal directions. Gelgit is the Turkish word for “to and fro”.

Here are some examples of the Gelgit pattern. 

This detail was inspired by an unusual interpretation of Gelgit by the Twitter user Karasu-Ya.

Of course, the upward and downward strokes don’t have to be equidistant. In this pattern, I have shifted the downward stroke a little to the right.

You can achieve this interesting effect by making a Gelgit, but omitting every second stroke in the return direction. Perhaps this pattern should be called “Half-Gelgit”.

Here is another variant. It has an additional downward wavy comb with a small amplitude. Its tines are spaced about six times as far apart as the one that made the underlying Gelgit.