richsantaclaus

Thanks Ronnie - I have programmed my kiln VERY carefully to raise the temperature VERY slowly when repairing old marbles and even at that, I have had 3 sulphides, out of the 150 or so I have repaired, explode in the kiln during the warm-up process. I always tell a potential customer that IF the marble will stay in the family and be passed down to future generations - leave the marble alone. IF the damage is so bad that you can't even see the figurine, I leave it up to the owner to decide if they want to chance an explosion during the warm-up process. There will always be a controversy whether to polish, buff, torch, grind, whatever verses leave the marble alone. Honestly, I have lost count of the number of marbles overall that I have repaired for customers. So far, my client list is over 50 vintage collectors that have used my torching techniques to repair their marbles. Rich

Polishing is one way to restore an old marble but torching can get all the bubbles out of the sulphide without losing so much glass. Each sulphide marble owner makes the decision to leave it alone, get it polished or get it torched. Here are two torch repairs I did for a friend.

You all should see these beauties up close in your hand - pictures do not do them justice. I have some pictures of the pee wee marbles at my pictorial Jabo history site. http://www.santasbling.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88:2011-jabo-pictorial-history&catid=39:jabo-machine-made-marbles&Itemid=53 scroll down to the very bottom for 2 pix Rich

Interesting technique!

Beautiful eye candy Galen!!!!!!

Very nice!!!!!

Alan is spot on. I enlarged the pix on eBay and the surface is too smooth to not be torch worked. It still is a nice marble but not what you thought. Rich

I know of contemporary marble makers that already use X and O is why I am afraid...lol. It is a great suggestion and thanks! Oh just a thought, you can come over and sign them for me - there's about.... 3000 to do or more!...lol,lol,lol

part 2

Playing around with aventurine - like any of these? part 1

Hummmmm, you consider only 10 contemporary marble makers "great"....lol

Cool - V E R Y cool!!!!!

Let me go look. Be right back...lol Yes.... I feel that it can be repaired. The outside will be "peeled" carefully to get the bad marks off. I can get the bubbles out - 90% sure I can. I'll PM you the email Thanks Rich

Sometimes it isn't a point about respect of signing or engraving a contemporary marble - in my case, I have lost my fine motor skills to sign one. I tried several times and it looks as if an overactive 1st grader ate too much candy and ruins the marble when trying to sign/engrave it...lol

Rat dropping marble?

2011 is over and done - best to you all for the 2012 year!!!!!

Very nice marbles - never seen that Company before!

Thanks - I thought it was my computer.

I tried to upload a small jpeg file and it said it failed - anyone else having problems? Rich

Great information psia-antique, I am going there right now to look! Thanks

Glass Density Here are some words used in science when working with glass density: Density is mass per unit volume (g/cm3). Density gradient is a column containing a liquid mixture that undergoes a gradual decrease in density from the bottom level to the top level. Density meter is an electronic device for measuring density. Plummet is a sealed, immersible chamber of known volume and density. Temperature controlled column is an item specifically made to contain density liquid and remain at a constant temperature. Meaning and use of density: Density, a fundamental property of glass, varies with changes in composition and thermal history. Density determined either by direct measurement or comparison is suggested if elemental analysis is not available. It is impractical to measure density on glass fragments smaller than two to three millimeters. If two samples of glass can be differentiated by density, they could not have originated from the same source. Further limited discrimination may be possible by doing a density comparison in conjunction with refractive index comparison. Something to think about: Glass samples exhibit a range of density values. Density is a function of the chemical composition of the glass and its thermal history. The composition of a glass sample can be measured by a variety of techniques. Thermal history is typically assessed through a measurement of either refractive index or density.

I know your kindness will make BIG smiles on the kid's faces at Christmas - thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seems this virus doesn't work on a Mac, at least mine.

Update - still receiving donations ( MANY thanks to you who participated)!!!!! What I have has gone to the school for the special ed students to count and bag. I'll post pix when they get them back to me for you all to see. Rich

I use an ultra sonic cleaning machine for 8 minutes and repeat if necessary.