Ribbon in marbles

JetAge Studio · #1 2007-05-29, 2:18pm

Hi, just thought I'd ask about a marble technique. I'm not a marble maker, but I've always been intregued by them....maybe after more research, I'll delve in. So for now, how do you get a ribbon of color inside the marble? Picts of doing it would be great too! Thanks!!
Renee
JetAge Studio

www.tucsonartistgroup.com

Wonker · #2 2007-05-29, 4:24pm

There's probably a number of wayos to put the ribbon in, but I was shown to basically create one half of your marble by forming a gather on the end of a rod, use a marble mold to create the round.....tear off the rod after puntying up to the now round marble. Flatten the area you've torn from the rod. Put your ribbon down on that flat area. Some leave a little clear area around the ribbon. Some put a transparent/white/transparent complex down or any other pattern you can think of. Put a lens down with clear....round it up.....you can punty up at 90 degrees to the original punty and put a twist in....hope this makes some sense.

JetAge Studio · #3 2007-05-30, 10:28am

yeah, that KINDA makes sense....not familiar completely with marble making terms...is this kind of like making Zanfirico, and laying it on a flattened side of a half round marble, then putting a blob on top of that then rounding it up? I'm not exactly clear on how/where to put the punty to twist the ribbon inside.
Thanks for all your info!!
Renee Wiggins
JetAge Studio

visit my new work at www.tucsonartistgroup.com

Wonker · #4 2007-05-30, 1:07pm

to twist it up..... you're going to put the punties on either side of the flat ribbon ----=====----- where ---- is the punty and ===== is the flat colored ribbon you now have suspended between clear globs.....

Cosmo · #5 2007-05-30, 1:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wonker

There's probably a number of wayos to put the ribbon in, but I was shown to basically create one half of your marble by forming a gather on the end of a rod, use a marble mold to create the round.....tear off the rod after puntying up to the now round marble. Flatten the area you've torn from the rod. Put your ribbon down on that flat area. Some leave a little clear area around the ribbon. Some put a transparent/white/transparent complex down or any other pattern you can think of. Put a lens down with clear....round it up.....you can punty up at 90 degrees to the original punty and put a twist in....hope this makes some sense.

That will work, but it's a lot more work than is necessary. This is one of the first types of marbles we teach in our beginning marble class.

This is how I do it:

Take a gather of color and flatten it. Add stripes, other colors, or whatever else you want in the middle of the marble.

Then take a large gather of clear and attach it to one side of the colored mass. Then attach a similar sized gather of clear to the other side. Now you have basically a "glass sandwich" with two large gathers of clear as the "bread" and colored glass in between them. Punty up to each end, heat, and twist slightly. Let it form into somewhat of a football shape. Then remove one punty (twist it the same direction you twisted initially when removing) and shape one half of the marble. Punty up to the side you just shaped, remove the other punty, and shape. Then it's just a matter of finish shaping and you're done.

JetAge Studio · #6 2007-05-30, 7:49pm

Thank you Cosmo, I was hoping you'd give your two cents!

It's weird wrapping my brain around "blobs of glass", rather than laying glass on mandrels for lampworking, or dealing with flat glass altogether, like in my fusing. I had a hard time visualizing the blob "twisting in the middle", because everytime I worked blobs, like for making murrini, the whole thing twists. I think I've got it right, now. It's also confusing how many times something gets puntied back and forth, but it makes sense now that you work each end smoother and smoother into a final shape, is this right? Working between the two punties (or with 2 at first)? Sounds like a lot of fun.
Wonker, thanks so much for your take on it too!! Good to get two opinions!

I'm sure I'll have more questions!
Renee Wiggins

Visit my new work at www.tucsonartistgroup.com

Cosmo · #7 2007-05-31, 9:59am

The trick to not have the whole thing twist is to just use a little heat. Use a lot less than you think you need. Also, while it may be more intimidating, the bigger you can make the gathers of glass the easier it will be to work. Small marbles are hard because it's hard to heat just certain portions of them.

NightCat · #8 2007-05-31, 1:59pm

I use the fold over technique. I take a rod and heat up a length at the end. The length depends on how large I want the marble. I heat up the length and then marver it somewhat flat. I usually have one side flatter than the other and that is OK. Kind of looks like a D

I stripe down the center of the flat spot going along the length of the rod. I only strip half (or less) of the length of the flattened length. Meaning, I don't start striping right at the end of the rod and I only go to the half way point, or a little less.
I then heat at the halfway point and fold the rod onto its self.
I then heat and marver along the seam starting at the fold and working towards me squeezing out the air and sealing the stripe inside.
Then you just add the twist and round the thing up.

I'll try and post a picture tonight of the marble I made this way.

Just shows again how many different ways there are to do things.

JetAge Studio · #9 2007-05-31, 2:49pm

That's awesome! Gives me lots to think about. Yes, please post a pict if you can!!

Thanks Cosmo, your info is making total sense!

Renee

visit my new work at www.tucsonartistgroup.com

NightCat · #10 2007-06-01, 6:58am

Here are couple of real quick shots. Really quick, I just snapped off a few shots on the front porch before work. Anyway, this is my modern take on the vintage Ribbon Marble. I did it the way I described in my earlier post.

Enjoy,
~R

JetAge Studio · #11 2007-06-01, 7:05am

Yep, that's exactly what I wanted!! Thanks!!! Too cool!
Renee

Cosmo · #12 2007-06-01, 7:57am

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightCat

Just shows again how many different ways there are to do things.

Yeah, like that "more than one way to skin a cat" saying.... except I never could figure out why anyone wanted to skin a cat in the first place.

NightCat · #13 2007-06-01, 8:21am

I need to do a much better job of terminating and cleaning up the ends. I didn't pull the colors together enough at the ends. During the rounding process the colors blurred and I didn't get that sharp "cut ribbon" look that the vintage soft glass marbles have. Practice Practice Practice.......

No body better try skinnin' this cat.
I wonder just how many ways there ARE to skin a cat???