Scoop

Or.................................................. Just another little piece a your heart now, Baby???

Naaaaaaaaa..... There aren't many people I trust my animals with. But, Budster would be one!!! PS.... I happen to be at a farm today and witnessed a lamb being born..... Pretty Cool!!!

I'm gonna have to leave and miss any more that might come up today... So, let me take 5, too.... Oh Yeah.... Group 2....

I want 4 I want 4!!!!!

Great Thread RD!!! Thanks so much for getting us back on track!!! (Funny, just before you posted the other thread, I was thinkin' "Gee, this would be a good time for RD Jr. pictures!!!!" LOL) That green one in the center of your pic is one of those that you can feel pulling you down inside the glass!! When I was a kid, these were my favorites. I called them "creamers" because they reminded me of how cream looks when it's first poured into hot coffee.....

Gotta love that smile!!! 'Looks like you guys really scored on this one!!! (He needed that smile when he was sitting in the car!!! LOL)

I have a couple of earlier bags, too..... 'Sure looks like I need an upgrade!!! Yes John, you will see me at Wheaton (God willin' and the crick don't rise!! )

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Hey Steph, these are all contemporary marbles, crafted by John McCormick, who is just as cool a person as his marbles are!! ('Looking forward to his always being a "regular" on the front porch of the Country Inn at Wheaton!!)

Cool Beans, Budster!!!! Welcome to the world of "antiques!!!" (Now, your "Double-Doomed"....... LOL)

Ray's post on Marble Mental

I'm so bummed to hear this!!! Ray may not be considered one of the (cough, cough) "Premium Marble Makers" (said with a "snooty" voice...) But, I think he is grossly underated for his ability to "Think Outside the Box" and take on a challenge!! He decided to attempt a contemporary cat's eye... Not only did he do it, but they are WONDERFUL marbles!!! When Tom Reed challenged makers to recreate the birdcage, Ray was the only one (to my knowledge) to step up to the plate!! In his single, quick reply, it was very evident that with only a bit more "playing around" he could have it down cold.... I'd always hoped to see him do more with the "Sulfide Scenes".... I know these were tough work and I don't *think* Ray was able to do it alone (What I saw had been done with Scott Meyer) But, what a cool idea!!! Using multiple sulfides to construct little villages and scenes!!! And, I'll always have total respect for his ability to recreate sulfides, but always in such a way as to make them easily distinguishable from the antiques... I hope that Ray will stay with us.... If not as an artist, at least as a fellow collector and friend!!!

A little bigger, a little brighter......

WOW!! What a cool thread!!! Thanks Novice for getting us started on this!!! Hey.... Check out the picture (Below) that Chris posted before.... Look at the marble with the arrow... Now, check out this post...... Who made this?? Things that make you go, "Hmmmmmmmmmmmm"

Oh Yeah...... Who did it?? Leroy?? Nice job!!

No brainer for me, on the first one.... I can see where the second might be questionable... I think I'd lean towards Leroy, though.... Nice work, Leroy!!

YES!!! Thank you!! I meant to add something on these!!! I'm not really sure if they should be here, or in Alternatives.... Maybe both!!! (since I doubt either thread will become overwhelmingly long!! LOL) Here is the order info for those Pads.

bjmarble's auctions.... Sorry, I meant to add a link, but I had to recover a bit and clean the drool off my keyboard....

Let's hear it for your favorite marble "Doctor!!" Post before and after pictures, or just tell us what you think!!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Or.... If you've had a problem with a restoration, let's hear it!!! This can be either a work or honesty issue.... If it becomes problematic, it may have to be moved to "The Board of Inquiry"

Hopefully, new types of restoration methods will always be thought up by someone who is willing to experiment... The ultimate goal is to restore a damaged marble to it's best potential, while altering it's original appearance as little as possible. Positive and negative aspects of the restoration process need to be weighed. As long as there are any negatives to a process, there is room for something better. This space is for those who feel they have hit on a better idea... The only one I can think of to be listed here, is the practice of "filling." Filling is a tedious job of using a non-yellowing epoxy to fill chips on a marble's surface. The following are restorers who use alternative restoration methods... (Please note that this is an open listing space... Members of this board do not necessarily know, or endorse the restorers listed... Please seek recommmendations or visit the "Feedback file" for individual reputations.)

"Cooking" is a term used for restoring a marble by reheating... I'm not positive of the exact process... I believe both torches and ovens are involved and it varies with the work needed... (anyone who can help me out here, please PM me and I'll add the info to this post) The most common purpose that I've heard of for cooking is to remove an unsightly as-made bubble from a sulfide. As far as I know, most any sort of damage can be repaired with cooking.... The key word being "can"..... or, not...... This process is VERY risky!! Due to the narrow margin of heat needed, the difficulty of maintaining it and the stability of old glass, most any sort of result... From a droopy surface, to a complete explosion... is possible. Why would anyone want to do it?? In some cases, it's the only option available for a chance to make a very poor marble acceptable, or maybe even great!! The following are restorers who "Cook" / Reheat... (Please note that this is an open listing space... Members of this board do not necessarily know, or endorse the restorers listed... Please seek recommmendations or visit the "Feedback file" for individual reputations.)

Damn, Brad!!! NICE stuff!!!

Hand polishing a marble is an art... Since a talented hand is required for hand polishing, the reputation of the polisher is an important factor. This method is great for saving the pontils of handmade marbles with average damage. Saving the pontils on a handpolished marble with very deep damage and will likely result in degrees of an egg shape... Hand buffing is a simple polishing of the very surface of the glass, to remove light scratches, hazing or fogging of the glass. Since it requires less glass removal, it's not as difficult a process. The biggest downside to hand polishing and buffing is the expense... Since the process is labor intensive, it is usually quite costly. This makes it a selective process, reserved for marbles that are reasonably restorable and worth the expense of the process in order to save the pontils. The following are restorers who hand polish and buff... (Please note that this is an open listing space... Members of this board do not necessarily know, or endorse the restorers listed... Please seek recommmendations or visit the "Feedback file" for individual reputations.)

Reconditioning is a term for placing a marble into a 3 headed (usually) grinding device, that can take down various layers of glass, then polish the marble to a clean, perfect sphere. This is currently a favorite and inexpensive method for machine made marbles or severely damaged handmade marbles.... It should be understood that the pontils of a handmade marble will be permanently lost with this method. The following is a list of marble reconditioners!! (Please note that this is an open listing space... Members of this board do not necessarily know, or endorse the restorers listed... Please seek recommmendations or visit the "Feedback file" for individual reputations.)

Marble Mental - Guy Gregg Tribute - Page 2 Author Comment flu0rescent Member Posts: 14 (1/2/07 9:06 pm) Reply Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- goodbye buddy.. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Roningeorgia Member Posts: 1749 (1/3/07 12:48 pm) Reply Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is amazing to me how these little orbs have brought so many of us together over the years. I met Guy through marbles and the kindness of Don and Becky. Guy tuly was and is 'a keeper.' His laughter was contagious and almost as large as his kindness. Guy was a 'good egg' and down this way that's as mint as it gets. He will be missed by many people, but definitely not forgotten. My heart especially goes out to Denise. Ron _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ dink1111 Member Posts: 266 (1/4/07 8:59 pm) Reply Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am just stunned. Between the ice storm and the Christmas post office crush, I hadn't been on the boards and knew nothing of this until a friend told me New Year's Eve that Guy was gone. Guy was one of the first marble collectors I met, and my grandsons and I just adored him. Guy was the one who filled 3-year-old Abigail's coat pockets so full of marbles at a Decatur show that the child could barely navigate to the car. Logan's prized lavender Pelt banana was a gift from Guy, and even my Pelt collection has more than a few of his 'extras'. He took great pleasure in pressing a marble into someone's hand, and gave away marbles to the kids just to see their eyes light up. And if the kid caught the marble bug, so much the better. When I suggested that this made him, basically, a marble 'pusher', he just roared with laughter. We spent many an hour in Guy and Denice's room, talking Pelts and Vitros, of course, but just talking, too. The boys loved his little terrier, Katie, and it was quite an honor when Denise and Guy let them play with her new pups. Poor Katie is as bereft as the rest of us, nosing around the house and then jumping up on Guy's bed to lay her head on his pillow. Denise is still trying to grasp that he's gone -- they had a wonderfully unique and mutually supportive relationship, She just doesn't know yet what to do with herself after taking care of Guy all these years. I learned a lot about marbles from Guy. At first, I'd bring him my marbles to ID, and if he couldn't pin one down, he'd say "Go see so-and-so, tell 'em Peltboy sent you." I met a lot of very knowledgeable people through him. Pretty soon I just wanted Guy to check my own IDs, and to this day I would still bring him the occasional head-scratcher to puzzle out. Often he'd see me, and call me over while he dug around in his trays. Then he'd hand me a marble, saying, "Tell me what you think about this one.", like a pop quiz. Gave me almost the same feeling in my stomach -- I wanted to get it right! And he'd get such a grin on his face when I'd catch the 'thing' about it. We shared a fondness for the odd, 'what's going on with this?' marble, and it was so much fun showing him our latest finds. It was my turn to grin when he'd tell me, "That's a nice marble, Dink, you hang on to that one." What a loss. His vast knowledge of Peltier and Vitro, his sly humor, his generosity, even the perilous scooter he cruised around on, terrorizing hallways and rooms, and menacing unwary toes. He always had a smile on his face, and never, ever lacked a sharp comeback at a friendly insult. If I razzed him about his 'doglet', (vs. my Great Pyrenees), he'd start talking -- loudly -- about how short people always had to have the biggest dogs as a way to compensate. He was a big man in many ways, and he leaves a big void that will be hard to fill. The marble community was well represented at his memorial services, by the way. I couldn't stay for the service, but while I was there I saw Chuck Garrett,(of course), Clive and Marilyn Thomas, Ron Patterson, and Warren Huffer (?, I never get his last name right). Familiar names on floral arrangements included Bill McCaleb, Ron Sheppard, Danny Grocki, Chuck Garrett, Steve Dodson, Del Morgan, Joe Cano, Art Jones and Bill Bass, and Chuck and Diane Bradstetter. I'm sure there were others I just didn't recognize. Guy, we're missing you already. Dink _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ raynsandy Member Posts: 504 (1/5/07 6:05 pm) Reply Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He was good a friend, even sent him a bag of Grandma Utz potatoe chips just before Christmas. He was always willing to share info and teach what he knew. He is definately, and will be, sadly missed. My sympathy to Denise and family. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Pinx ezOP Administrator Posts: 1578 (1/6/07 5:11 pm) Reply Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks everyone for the wonderful memorial you've created. I'll keep this pinned a few more days in case some latecomers would like to post, then eventually move it to the Archive Forum so that it won't "disappear". Elizabeth _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ scoop54 Member Posts: 258 (1/6/07 10:48 pm) Reply | Edit Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been working on a "Marble Friends Memorial" Forum over at Lou's... Elizabeth, could I please copy this for that forum? I only met Guy twice, and briefly... But, after all this time on the boards, we immediately felt like family. He's a huge loss... His warmth, wit and knowledge were simply the best... I'll miss him terribly.... _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Pinx ezOP Administrator Posts: 1580 (1/6/07 11:01 pm) Reply Re: A huge empty feeling... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copy all you want, Sue! I'm not sure how you'll do it since the software is different. If I can help, let me know. Elizabeth _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ scoop54 Member Posts: 260 (1/6/07 11:11 pm) Reply | Edit Re: We Will All Miss The Guy with a Big Heart! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks so much, Elizabeth!! I managed to copy some from the old EZ Board... It's labor intensive. But, it's just not right to lose these folks without a trace... I've intended to do it for a long time... Guy was the last straw... I just can't, and don't want to, believe he's really gone.... The forum is for them all, but in my mind, it's dedicated to Peltboy!! _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ leroy65 Member Posts: 229 (1/8/07 12:48 pm) Reply Re: Guy Gregg Tribute -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few years back I received an email questioning me about the Marble Muesum here in York, Nebraska. It was from Guy Gregg. Than I received a telephone call a little later saying that he and Denise were headed this way. It wasn't long before Guy and Denise were knocking on my door. They spent several hours here at home going through some of my marbles. The first thing Guy said when we came down stairs to my "Marble Room" (right next to my machine room) was "Alright Leroy, where's your Peltiers?" My, my we went through a lot of marbles that day, but mainly Pelts. I even went into a storage area a dragged out two large clothes hampers that were full of marbles (bags and boxes) with lots and lots of Pelts in them. Guy had a hay day and I learned about some of my Pelts. They watched my reconditioning machines in action. Than we went out to the Marble Muesum. Over the years Guy and I sent each other various marbles. I can remember sending him an orginal Peltier bag of 100 Banana catseyes and a NLR mint wasp just full of aventurine. Some of my prize "cats" came from Guy. There were other marbles that went through the mail both ways. I will sorely miss Guy and I'll keep Denise in my prayers. ----Leroy---- _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________