Marble Madness

Today I’m all about Marbles.

A couple weeks ago my sister and I went to an art fair in the burbs and there were lots of booths with glass. The majority of it was fused pendants or lampwork beads, but there was one booth that really caught my attention. I was looking pieces over and decided to pick up one that seemed to be a cone shape and was shocked to find out it was actually a perfect marble shape. (It was similar to the top left marble above). When you look at it from the front at any angle you would swear the back end was deep and far away. I really wanted it, but I’m more strapped for cash since reducing my hours at work last fall. I’ve always wanted to work with hot glass and decided to do some investigation today.

I decided to check out etsy and see if there were any marble makers there and was delighted to find a bunch. Above is a collection I put together of some real beauties.  Click on the image above and it will take you to the glass<marbles category, but be warned you have to sift through a lot of crafty marble magnets :(

I found this cool video that shows a complete demonstration on making one large marble, start to finish. I had no idea it was such a long process. I kind of hoped that there was some magical step after heating where you cut pieces away, dropped them into water and they just became sphere-like on their own because of the cohesive nature of the hot glass. No such luck. After seeing how the marbles are made and seeing the selection available on Etsy I feel like I might want to start collecting marbles. I kind of like the idea. Glass beads and pendants are okay, but unless you plan on playing with one of these large marbles, they would be best put on display as the piece of artwork that they are.

Unrelated to marbles, but just as eye catching ;) I listed this coiled paper pendant in whites. This one was my favorite just because with the more subtle colors I think you can focus more on the lines, textures, materials and realize exactly what the piece is made of. These pendants are also listed at a VERY resonable price, might I add ;)