Artist Interview – Carl
Fisher
Glass Addiction
JAC1961
July 11, 2007
Welcome to another artist interview at Glass
Addiction. This interview is provided to us by Carl & Fran Fisher. I've included
some follow-up questions at the end so I can still feel like I did something!
Hope you enjoy reading it and welcome Carl and Fran to our Glass Addiction
marble family!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both vintage and contemporary marble collectors worldwide collect Carl Fisher
handmade contemporary clay marbles. Although he only started making marbles in
2006, Fisher has been featured in over 15 local and national newspaper and
magazine articles. He is fast becoming one of the most highly collected
contemporary marble artists of our time.
We interviewed Carl Fisher on July 11, 2007 and here’s what he had to say:
Q. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
A. I was born in Cleveland, but grew up in Youngstown,
Q. What motivated you to start making marbles?
A. I collected marbles for years. As my vintage collection grew, I began getting
interested in the rarest, most colorful, and unfortunately, the most expensive
marbles. An antique, hard to find, multi-color shooter in mint condition could
easily cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. I went to a local antique
show in February, 2006 looking for marbles and instead, I found a woman selling
some beaded necklaces that looked like some of the rarest old colorful marbles.
I asked her where she got them and she told me that she made them from polymer
clay. So, the next day, I drove out to the local craft store to pick up a few
packs of the brightly colored clay and hurried home to make my first marble. I
can remember grabbing a few small pieces of the red, yellow and blue clay and
kneading them together, and after just a few short minutes, there it was, a big
lump of clay that looked absolutely nothing like a marble, let alone the vintage
Superman I was trying to mimic. But, I kept at it for weeks. After a while, I
figured out how to get the clay rounder. Then I figured out how to get them to
look glossy like glass. Then I started to be able to more closely copy the
colors and patterns of the marbles that I sought for my own collection. Every
now and then, one would come out really nice, which at that time was still
mostly due to trial and error or just dumb luck. But, into my collection it went
as a placeholder until I could find or afford a real glass one. I showed some of
my placeholders to my marble collecting friends and they were amazed at how they
looked. They asked me to make some placeholders for their collections, too. So I
did, and that was the beginning of my marble-making career.
Q. Do you make any other marbles besides the vintage looking ones?
Yes, I also make my own contemporary designs. There is large group of people who
collect new works from contemporary marble artists. I create marbles for both
groups of collectors. It was at the
Q. How are your marbles different than regular glass marbles?
A. The biggest difference is the weight. Once you hold one of mine, you can
immediately tell its not glass. Its lighter, softer, and warmer to the touch
than glass. Mine are more durable though. They wont crack, break, or chip. You
can even bounce them off of a carpeted floor with no damage at all.
Q. Your marbles are like little works of art. What kind of paint do you use?
A. Everyone asks that. Actually, there is no paint used in the process. Polymer
clay is available in many different colors. I further hand blend these colors
together and then artistically form the clay to create the designs and patterns
on the marble. It takes a lot of trial and error to get the clay to look like
glass.
Q. Are there any other skills involved?
A. Beside artistic skills, theres a lot of math and science involved in the
process, especially if you want to be able to produce a consistent, high
quality, repeatable product. My engineering background helped out a lot with all
the measuring, weighing, and other technical stuff needed to make the marbles. I
designed and built a few simple machines to help in the manufacturing process to
get uniformly consistent sizes, colors, and patterns. Plus, I document
everything I do. So, if I need to reproduce a certain marble, I can review my
notes and create the marble. For example, if Im making a set of marbles, I know
that volume of clay in each marble has to be the same. The weight has to be the
same, too. I can simply weigh out equal amounts of clay for each marble to
ensure that they all come out the same size.
Q. How did you learn how to make these marbles?
A. I learned mostly by trial and error. There were no books on the subject. I
did look at some of the polymer clay How To books on making things from polymer
clay. I also studied some basic glass making techniques and tried to apply them
to clay. But most of what I use was learned by just doing it. There were a lot
of mistakes along the way and lots of bad marbles during the process. And, I
have jars full of uninteresting globs of clay to prove it.
Q. What have you been working on lately?
A. I’m working on some new patterns and designs and coming out with sets of
marbles like the Fisher Flower Series and the Food series. One of my best
customers recently purchased my Broccoli Quiche design and said that it looked
delicious. Its never ending. Some nights, I have to get out of bed and write
down some ideas just so I wont forget them. Every time I see something new, I
wonder what it would look like as a marble. One of my best sellers on eBay is a
vintage looking marble that I call a Christensen. Its patterned after the
marbles from two popular vintage marble manufacturers and has a lot of bright
electric colors, with swirls or flame patterns running throughout.
Q. How long does it take to make a marble?
A. That’s a tough question to answer. Once I figure out how to make a specific
pattern, it may only take 15 minutes to make one marble; however, it could take
days, even weeks, to figure out how to perfect the pattern. With vintage marble
replicas, it takes hours to come up with design and I have to reverse engineer
it in order to recreate it. Some of my marbles are formed from a cane which is a
long cylinder of clay. I can usually get 5 or 6 marbles from a cane. But, while
it may only take 5 minutes to make each marble once the cane is produced, it may
take an hour to make the cane. Every marble is different and I can never tell
how long it will take me to create any of them. Coming up with new marble
designs and making prototypes can be very time consuming.
Q. How has the community responded to your polymer clay marbles?
A. So far, the response has been great. I sell my marbles at marble shows and I
sell them on eBay under my User ID, palsauctions. I sell about five lots a week
on eBay. I sold one 11/16 Golden Rebel for $56 which was the most a single
marble of mine ever sold for. The eBay feedback has been very positive also.
Some people have left feedback like, Awesome, Beautiful, Incredible, Fantastic
Talent, You're a Genius, and lots of other encouraging feedback. The best
feedback is when a customer buys again. Then I know they really like them. I
have a few repeat customers, and hope for more once the word gets out. I plan on
making marbles for a long time, so hopefully some of these early ones will go up
in value just like the first examples of any artists work. I offer a Certificate
of Authenticity with each marble I make which includes a photograph of the
marble, the size, the month and year it was made, and my signature. And eBay is
really nice because it affords me the opportunity to market them worldwide.
Q. How much time do you spend each week making marbles?
A. Not as much time as Id like. I usually make them on the weekends, if I have
nothing else scheduled. Ill work for a few hours at a sitting and make about 30
marbles.
Q. When you’re not making marbles, what do you do?
A. I work for IBM and just celebrated my 22nd year anniversary. I sell IBM
storage systems that support businesses in the areas of disaster recovery and
business continuance, and I work with some of the largest companies in the
world. Its a fascinating job and its very challenging. We use the latest
computer technologies to come up with innovative solutions to our customers
problems. I think some of that innovative thinking rolled over into my marble
making.
Q. I’ve heard your marbles called Green marbles. Whats that mean?
A. Anything environmentally friendly, or energy efficient, is called Green. An
example of green energy would be producing electricity from wind power. My
marbles are made from polymer clay. The clay hardens just by baking it in my
kitchen oven at a low temperature for a short time. Plus, I can bake dozens at a
time. Therefore, they don’t take much energy to produce. Melting glass, on the
other hand, requires very high temperatures for relatively long periods of time.
So, If you’re concerned about global warming, my green marbles are definitely
for you.
Q. Some people call you The Marbler. How did you get that name?
A. My wife and I have a favorite restaurant that we frequent every week. There
was an article in the Antique Week about my marbles a while ago, and one of the
owners of the restaurant recognized me from the photos in the article. They
called me the Marbler, and its stuck even since. The staff at the restaurant
often makes suggestions for new designs, and I take some of my newest ones each
time we go there. They enjoy looking at them, and some of the staff have helped
me name them. They were the ones that started calling me The Marbler, and now
others are calling me that. I like the name and am thinking of getting it as my
license plate.
Q. Where do you see your marble business headed in the future?
A. Based on current demand, there is a good market for them. Right now, I think
I am the only person in the world making marbles out of polymer clay at this
level. I have pioneered some new methods to make them look really glass-like.
Producing marbles from polymer clay that look like glass wasnt even thought
possible a few years ago. Now that people see it can be done, I am sure others
will want to try their hand at it. I plan on continuing to improve the quality
of my marbles and I have enough new design ideas to keep me busy for a very long
time.
Q. Are you planning on sharing your methods with others?
A. I show the process to everyone I can drag into my studio. I share most of
what I do, but there are a few trade secrets that I don’t want let out just yet.
I have kept extensive documentation and am planning on writing a book on how to
make polymer clay marbles using my methods.
Q. I see you entered your first contest, the Glass Addiction Boards 3rd
Annual Alphabet Contest and you tied for 13th place as well as tied for Best Use
of Color. Were you pleased with that?
A. I was ecstatic to have even been invited to participate, but to win something
was even better. I was really honored just to be mentioned along with all the
other well known and established marble artists that competed in the contest. I
do use a glass core to make a lot of my marbles, so it qualified as glass. This
was my very first contest. I got to choose the letter F and worked on several
prototypes which took weeks of experimentation. It was, by far, the largest
marble I ever made at 2 3/8. I used a millefiori pattern which was made from
hundreds of tiny cells of colored clay. The millefiori cane was sliced and
placed on a glass core and then baked and glazed. When I found out I tied for
13th and tied for Best Use of Color, I couldn’t believe it. I was very happy
with the outcome and hope to be invited back again next year.
Q. Do you plan on exhibiting at the Buckeye Marble Collectors Show at the
Holiday Inn in
A. Unfortunately, I will be out of town on business, but I will definitely give
a few cases of my marbles to some of my marble dealer friends. Ill definitely be
at the Ohio winter show in New Philadelphia ,
Q. Have you ever thought of mass producing these?
A. I was recently commissioned to make 40 marbles for someone's 90th birthday
party. They were handed to each guest that attended the party, and they served
as a commemorative for the event. The guest of honor, the 90-year-old, played
marbles as a child, and she won awards for her marble shooting ability. The
marbles were a hit and everybody loved them. I would like to do some more volume
work like this for weddings, anniversaries and other important events. Marbles
make a great gift and can signify an important milestone in ones life.
Q. So, if someone wants to contact you, how do they do that?
A. My website address is carlfishermarbles.com or you can reach me at
951-694-6873. Or, just look on eBay or google
for Carl Fisher Marbles.
1. Has anyone ever purchased your
marbles assuming that they were glass and ended up being disappointed when they
realized they are polymer clay?
Not that I know of. All my marketing materials, eBay listings, and marble show
signs clearly state that they are made of clay. Most of vintage collectors that
have purchased my marbles use them as placeholders. If anything, I think they
are more amazed that they are made of clay. Most of my buyers are repeat
customers, too. Honesty is the best policy.
2. Like most glass artists, do
you have any plans to make other forms such as vessels or sculpture?
Maybe someday in the distant future. But, at this point, and for years to come,
I have enough ideas on paper that I still want to get into the simple spherical
form. I used to make kiln fired clay in the shape of a lit cigar. I hand painted
them and designed custom cigar bands. They looked just like the real thing too
and could easily get you kicked out of a restaurant.
3. Do you think that your
business will suffer if you publish a book on how to make polymer clay marbles?
Again, a book may be a long way off. And there are plenty of books on making
contemporary glass marbles which doesn't seem to hurt the top contemporary glass
artists. Everyone seems to have there own style. Regardless, even knowing how to
do something and actually doing it are two different things. I definitely do
intend on sharing my methods at some point. I am sure others will pick it up on
their own also, once they see that it is possible to make glass-looking marbles
from clay.
4. Have you ever considered
trying glass just for fun?
No. But, if anyone wants to invite me over call me!
5. Do you think that your methods
lend themselves better to vintage marbles than contemporary?
There is one quality of the clay that does limit the type of marbles that can be
made. But, its not a question of vintage versus contemporary. The clay itself
does not come in clear. So, I am limited to opaque-looking glass. There are some
translucent clays available, but most produce unpredictable or poor quality
results. Any real depth to the colors in my marbles is more attributable to
complex color mixing and the thick clear glaze that fools the eye. Fortunately,
some of the most desirable vintage marbles are rare brightly colored opaques in
specific recognizable patterns. My original intent was to make placeholders for
these in my own collection. I started making contemporary designs after the
6. What do you enjoy most when
you sell at marble shows?
The look on peoples faces when they see these marbles for the first time, and
the words that come out of their mouth like, Wow, These are clay?, and Now
that’s scary.
7. Which marble has been your
favorite to make?
Vintage Peltier NLRs are my favorite to collect, so I guess making marbles that
look like them are some of my favorites to make. I also like making one of my
own contemporary designs that has become quite popular. Its a red, white, and
blue stars and stripes design that looks like the American flag.
