Marbles

Rev. 2003-05-03, 2005-01-27

I don't know much about making marbles, so this page will change as I do, but here are a few notes and a link.

Handmade marbles are typically made from a thick cane of a flat ribbon design which is given a twist and pieces are taken off and further cased over to produce a spiral of color or the cane has lines of color and when this is pinched off, a ball of color is formed with all the lines coming together at two points, like yarn around a core. Less commonly, marbles are treated like miniature paperweights with all the variations possible there.

Marbles are finally finished by turning them in a mold or against a curved edge and placing a punty repeatedly in different locations until the mark is mostly gone. Some people use a graphite or wood mold, while Art has said that since all that is needed is the edge (which seems to work for me) of a tube. I made my tube from conduit, grinding the inside edge to a slight bevel, since using a tube with a square edge really did not work for me. A second tube, larger, I made from 1-1/2" steel tubing

My biggest problem is the amount of heat they hold and the size of the punty mark. My jacks also leave a fairly ugly ring. Having a small punty mark is considered an acceptable flaw in a handmade marble.

2002-06-24 I continue to work on marbles, but I have started building birds perched on top of them

The Summer 2001 issue of Glass magazine has a cover story on marbles that has a modest discussion of their history and making.

Mark Mathews is a stunning marble maker from the furnace.

Torch made marbles with links to other glass http://www.geocities.com/edmondmarbles/

Torch Made Marbles: http://www.getsirius.com/marbles.html

Drew Frits Marbles with links to galleries: http://www.freeyellow.com/members2/tms/

>I am doing a production run for an aquarium craft project and am need
of bulk pricing for quantities greater than 100 lbs or so.

try finding "West Virginia Glass SpecialtyName : West Virginia Glass Specialty
Address : PO BOX 248 107 Main St
Ellenboro , WV 26346
Phone : (304)869-3374

they manufacture the things -- I've been to the plant - amazing.....they turn
out TONS of marbles... My kids had fun picking marbles up and filling their
pockets (people at the plant said "go ahead")
Cheryl of <A HREF="http://www.dragonbeads.com"> DRAGON BEADS </A>
Flameworked beads and glass
http://www.dragonbeads.com/

Megamarbles "Vacor's current production is 14-16 million marbles a day"

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