richsantaclaus

#1 is vitro. I too thought it was a champion at first so I went seeking confirmation. There were 5 passionate, experienced vintage marble collectors that held it their hands inspecting it carefully at the show, all at different times throughout the weekend and all of them agreed it was vitro.

Preston Norman

That is Mike Johnson, an author and marble collector above Kirby.

Windy - can you post pix at the show? My camera took a dump! Thanks

VERY close indeed. Time to reveal the game's ending. I thought this was the coolest thing I've ever encountered in marble collecting to date. This marble was hand made from a 5" window that had 26% lead in it. It was used in a bunker in Nevada. Remember the very first Atomic Bomb test in the US? This marble is from a window where the scientists were standing behind attempting to view the explosion. A professional Geologist obtained a piece of the window and made this marble. You can't believe how heavy this orb is until you actually hold it in your hands. I am going to email him for documentation if he can get for me. Steph - this guy orbboy is who I was referring to and I can't tell you his name because I can't find it. * Group: Moderator * Posts: 579 * Joined: 24-July 05 * Location:Toronto Canada Galen - I had at least 5 people asking to see you at my show - we missed ya!

lol,lol,lol..... You made me smile Ray. It's a mineral marble but the game is to find out what type? Then the story behind the marble - it is one I find most interesting and it is a true story too. Come on Steph, Galen and the mod from Canada, join in on the fun and play with me!

Marble #5 - I want you guys to make a guess and tell me what it is and what the story about it is - after a time, I'll tell you but I thought it would be fun to let you play. In the picture, you'll see a lot of reflections like the clouds and sky in my area (it's been raining a lot). Here are 2 clues: The marble is optically clear and the marble is tinted. Have fun guessing!

Marbles #4 3 Milky Oxbloods

Marble #3 My first steely

Marble #2 Vitro Easter Egg

I wanted to share - these are what I obtained at my show.... Like any of them? Marble #1 - Vitro Modified Tri Lite Unusual heavy threading and a good ecxample of a hybrid I feel

I have made a marble with different colors that looks similar to that one - it sold at the Las Vegas show.

I am waiting for my photographers to send my jpegs.

Nice piece of art too!

Beep, Beep, toot your Jeep! HBD!

2011 Marble Show summary I sit here one day after my 5th annual Orange County Marble Show happily very tired. What a diverse group of vendors! 40% of the show’s tables had contemporary artists works and mineral marbles for sale. 60% were tables filled with vintage marbles, marble jewelry, beads and other items for sale. For me, it was totally worth the year’s amount of work putting it all together. There were some interesting happenings one can’t plan on. For example – a wedding that took place in the main big room the night before my show! The hotel’s management came to me at 6:30pm and told me the big room wouldn’t be ready to set-up because of “an event.” I was allowed to use both big rooms but one would be set-up Friday night and the other Saturday morning. I had to quickly shuffle the 44 vendor tables to allow for the extra room! What a fantastic group of people I had the pleasure to work with. In the vintage field: Bud Cloven, Bennie Jones, Bill O’Connor, Jay Vargas, Jim Perez, Preston Norman, Tom Rudolph, Mike Johnson, Lee Linne, Joan Beam, Bob Jackson, Dave Evans, Kirby Manon, Steve Persch, Doug Hilenbrandt, Matthew Reilly allowed their vast knowledge of marbles to pour forth and teach me and others so many new things. Wolfgang Mueller was so gracious to teach me many very interesting things about mineral marbles. The terrific work of the contemporary marble artists was on display. John Bridges, Seth Parks, Katherine Nakazono, Jack Hanshaw, Josh Sable, Bob Ishimoto, locl, Verald lamb, Shauna Lamb, Jeff Meader, Fred Rossi and collector Brian Bowden dazzled the audience with excellent work. I can’t put the feeling of awe that I felt bouncing around the room. The passion of the vintage vendors, the brilliance of the contemporary marble makers all in the same room all at the same time – what an emotional experience it was for me. The only down side was attendance. In spite of 50 antique store posting fliers, Craig list advertising in two counties, an antique magazine with 26,000 subscribers, 25 web sites, 15 marble clubs, 2 radio stations and word of mouth, attendance was far short of what was expected. Only 2/3 of last year’s foot traffic was present. I suspect it was the state of our economy causing this. On the other hand, many of the vendors reported to me that they made successful sales in spite of the lower attendance than what was expected and would be happy to participate in the 2012 show. I have meeting with the hotel’s management to start the 6th annual Orange County marble Show so let the plans for the show begin! Rich

Yep, that old guy IS me! The clear marble took me 2 1/2 hours to make!

Here is a clear marble I made that is 2 1/2" in diameter that my wife did s candle shot of me holding it. This kids' photography using a clear marble reminded me of this photo so I thought you'd like to see it. Rich

The flea markets around here must be wearing flea collars because they have nothing like your find! Nice get!

I have a Christmas ornament with the same image on it - how cool is that!

I guess China too because of the clear not being yellowish and the frit on the exterior seems too colorful as if it were not old.

http://marbleconnection.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=8510 post #3 March 19th is next weekend. Please come if you can! Thanks

I agree Galen, hater is a bit strong and personally, I don't feel I am personally being hated one bit. I do see that, possibly, people should stop and think, read and reread their posts before hitting post. After all, I can't read the person's intentions all I can do is read their words. I'd rather read that people have strong feelings and opinions and it certainly ok to not agree with others BUT it MUST be done in a positive way. For example: I just hate that marble, it looks like c*ap to me and the person that posted it wants to know people's opinion about the marble. Before I start to type, I sit there and THINK of how I can express MY feelings and MY opinion about that marble without hurting the poster's feelings. I'd probably say something like this: "The marble I see on my screen is not one that fulfills my desire to have because the colors are too muted and the design is not as crisp as my desire in a marble but I am happy you like it."

Hi everyone, I am back from a 3 day short vacation seeing my son for his Birthday. Thank you all for your posts. I appreciate all the differing opinions and comments. I don't believe we all should eat the same flavor of ice cream as that would be so boring. Same with these wonderful glass orbs we collect. Some of us at this group collect vintage machine made marbles, vintage handmade marbles, contemporary marbles, glass cullet marbles and several combinations from these groups. I believe it is ALL good! I may not collect German Swirls myself, but that doesn't stop me from looking at a post that someone that does collect German Swirls puts up here at the site. If I ask for your opinion when I post my marble pictures, I hope that I receive constructive comments. For example: "I really didn't like that marble because it looks muddy and I don't care for that look." or, "I like that marble because it reminds me of a nebula." or "These marbles are not your best you've posted because they don't have the 'pop' the ones you usually show us." I am very honored that the 24 vintage marble collectors that have sent me cullet like my work. Because I have lost the ability for fine motor skills, I can't mark my marbles. It leaves big slash marks that are at least 1/4" large. I have tried marking 5/8" marbles for a period of 2 1/2 months and the results, no matter how hard I try, are about the same. My ti pen ($20) doesn't work for me at my age. It seems to me that many people don't post here anymore for other reasons I am not aware of and to think it is all my fault is something I will not accept as the real reason people don't post. I don't have the history of why they don't post anymore, but others have that knowledge - I am too new in collecting to know what went on before I happily joined our little family here. I am VERY happy to see, even though it was moved to a squabble zone, that my PARTICIPATION thread has 4111 views and it still is very active with members having fun! So, to me, this is proof it is not my fault members don't post. Anyway, thanks again for all the posts you guys have made and keep up the good work!

Thanks Galen - Here's my thoughts: Trouble is, I am proud to experiment and I appreciate creative criticism like gdp1 gave me - I respect that a lot! This was the first time I tried making aventurine frit and applying it to marbles and I wanted opinions from the group. I thought the subtitle, "A place for collectors of all types of marbles!" also included people that collected contemporary made marbles and showing a few that were made from a person would be fun and educational to the group. You can't go back to 1925 and talk to the machine marble makers and talk to them directly and ask questions about the glass, COE, structure, etc. nor can you see pictures of their current work as the factories are gone and it's not 1925 anymore. I assume that the people that don't like my cullet work will stop looking at my cullet threads so they won't be so upset as that isn't my purpose in posting them. I'll keep on posting my cullet work AND asking those who are interested for their opinions as I am always looking to improve my work and I appreciate creative opinions. There are plenty of members that look forward to seeing my cullet work and send me emails saying so by the way so I'm not convinced there really is a large percentage of collectors that are offended and, as I said, they need to stop looking at the cullet threads if it does affect their emotions is such a negative way.