Flame worked marbles (commissioned)

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
See more from Bob in SF

Bob in SF

Bob in SF

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
1,762
Location
San Francisco
Proud grandparents disapproving of their grandchildren's obsession with digital media commissioned this set of flame worked borosilicate glass marbles to teach their young about making eye (and hand and marble) contact while playing "unplugged":
attachment.php


More about the marbles in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJy23-bHNkY

Happy Saturday - Bob
 

Attachments

  • Marbles,commissionedhandful,markison,2016,800px.jpg
    Marbles,commissionedhandful,markison,2016,800px.jpg
    204.8 KB · Views: 861
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I remember playing with marbles. Back in the 60's the local 5and ten's would have bags for 50 cents. Alays had a few new 'shooters' in the bag.

Thanks for the memories.
 
Heartfelt thanks!

Those were indeed the days (mostly 1950's for me) - played outside till dark - and then some.

Best regards to all.
 
I often quote the title of a book that harkens back to those days: "Where did you go? Out. What did you do? Nothing." I fear that youngsters are missing something today.
 
corgicoupe said:
Hah! For me it was the late '40s & early '50s. Beautiful marbles!
Click to expand...

Third and Fourth grade I always went to school with a pocketful of marbles... recess there was always a hot game of keeps -- until the school stopped our "Gambling"....

Boys played marbles ( or sometimes mumbly-peg -- we were allowed to carry knives to school back in those days).... and girls played jacks or jump rope.
 
I was actually pretty good at marbles and played it for keeps at recess. Those big ones were always prized and we called them Aggies. That was back in the mid to late 50s.

Jim Smith
 
Early 50s for me .... I still have my marbles, too, I'd like to say !!! . They are in a big drawstring bag my mom made for them ... There must be 300 or so!! . I should give them to my grandkids before they get any older !!!

Thanks Bob !!! . A lot of us seem to have memories that include marbles !!
 
I played a bit during 5th grade (about 69-70). Never really felt like I knew what I was doing or that anybody else around me did either! :smile:

As for worrying about kids today, they'll be fine. I was a Scout leader as my son was growing up and he had a reasonably big troop (30+ scouts) with plenty of others in the area. When he headed off to college, despite being at least as big a computer geek as me, he went hiking, camping, caving, etc. Plenty of his classmates did as well.

My wife was a long-time Girl Scout leader as well...plenty of young ladies still coming up that way.

I mentored with a local robotics team for several years...plenty of the members of the team rode their bikes to school, were also on various sports teams, etc etc...
 
Bob, Truly beautiful marbles! Knowing that they were handmade makes them even nicer!
I enjoyed the video and now want to watch 20 more marble making videos!

Should I ever need a glass eye, I know where to come:biggrin: The one in the center which looks like earth from space is my first choice!

Thanks for posting these!
 
Charlie_W said:
Bob, Truly beautiful marbles! Knowing that they were handmade makes them even nicer!
I enjoyed the video and now want to watch 20 more marble making videos!

Should I ever need a glass eye, I know where to come:biggrin: The one in the center which looks like earth from space is my first choice!

Thanks for posting these!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Charlie!

Closest I've gotten to eyes was this little commission for stuffed animal eyes - but may go human some day:wink:.
attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • HandfulOfHandmadeGlassEyesMarkison,2016.jpg
    HandfulOfHandmadeGlassEyesMarkison,2016.jpg
    238.8 KB · Views: 434
Phil - here's an ad from 1955 - 21,000 9/16" marbles for $21.00 -
attachment.php

I can't beat Roy Torr's pricing.
Jump into your time machine:biggrin:
 

Attachments

  • 1955marble ad.jpg
    1955marble ad.jpg
    31.3 KB · Views: 320
Phil and Robert - $500.00 for the whole set of marbles - when I took the commission I'd just sold off my O2/Propane tank/torch/annealing kiln setup - so the $500.00 had to cover borosilicate glass (including rather expensive dichroic glass), studio membership, separate torch/gas/annealing kiln rental, 20 hours of my flame working time - not to mention the back-and-forth travel time. You get the picture.
Great fun and good will, but no significant profit with the marble set.

I did, however, make this single separately commissioned marble at the same time for the same price - challenge was to implode a cherry blossom form into a clear marble - glorious fun - techniques humbly learned from master glass artist Jeff Rogers. The commission subsequently "blossomed" into a glass "garden" for the same family:
attachment.php

Best regards, Bob:smile:
 

Attachments

  • CherryBlossomMarble,markison.jpg
    CherryBlossomMarble,markison.jpg
    198 KB · Views: 354
That cherry blossom is amazing. The others are not slouches either. Always liked the swirl in marbles. Maybe I need to learn a new skill.

14 marbles for $500 is to rich for my shallow pockets.

Thanks for sharing your artistry


Bob in SF said:
Phil and Robert - $500.00 for the whole set of marbles - when I took the commission I'd just sold off my O2/Propane tank/torch/annealing kiln setup - so the $500.00 had to cover borosilicate glass (including rather expensive dichroic glass), studio membership, separate torch/gas/annealing kiln rental, 20 hours of my flame working time - not to mention the back-and-forth travel time. You get the picture.
Great fun and good will, but no significant profit with the marble set.

I did, however, make this single separately commissioned marble at the same time for the same price - challenge was to implode a cherry blossom form into a clear marble - glorious fun - techniques humbly learned from master glass artist Jeff Rogers. The commission subsequently "blossomed" into a glass "garden" for the same family:
attachment.php

Best regards, Bob:smile:
Click to expand...
 
Beautiful marbles. I played marbles all the time and did quite well winning them during games with the kids on my block. I still love marbles and always buy them when I find old ones at estate sales etc. Your work is quit stunning. Would love to see your set up.
 
Thanks for kind comments, Phil - flame working is extraordinary fun, and a worthy skill - but production costs of one-of-a-kind borosilicate glass pieces are substantially greater than most other arts/crafts that I've done - except maybe gem and precious metal work.

Warm regards, Bob
 
Many thanks, Cindy, for kinds words and memories!

My (SF Public Glass) studio membership has lapsed, so I'm not currently set up for glass - but as you may know, SFPG has some amazing teaching and work in progress.

Best regards, Bob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom