shiroaiko

A blue swirl. The same shades of blue, the light and dark. Orange swirls follow. In 1936, Seike invented a device for making machine-made swirls. The utility model Showa12 (1937) No.13819 "Glass Sphere Forming Device" was filed on November 13, 1936, and officially published in September of the following year.

I took pictures of yellow ribbons that were forgotten. The clear window part is so small...almost diminishing. I'm not sure if they can be called a marble with a window. The white is a kind of contaminated color. For comparison, I put one white marble beside them on the dish.

Hi akroorka, thanks for the message! If it didn't happen to me, I would not be able to be here! I hope I can catch the horse some time in my future!

Thanks for the compliments! I was not successful or famous as a bead maker, but my love of glass has been strong and it still continues. I had to close my studio in Sendai in 2014, when I had my first and only son. He needed a medical help with his heart and lungs, and my life had changed completely. After 4 years and 7 months our beloved son passed away. I started dedicating my time for marble research after this. I am away from a torch for many years now. These things were the remembrance of my career in my 20s and 30s. Making those small pins was a pure joy. The glass itself is beautiful, I tried not to ruin the beauty.

Mainly glass beads. I started lampworking in 1996, and it was kind of connected to my fond memories in Arizona. I was an exchangee at Northern Arizona University for one academic year. We had a small bead shop in downtown a hippie man ran. My marble hobby started in 1998. These are photos I shared with Brian Graham in December 2021, when we introduced ourselves. I made small number of marbles on torch. The glass is Moretti/Effetre for these pieces. Japanese Satake is kind of too soft and I found it harder to work with to make marbles. Again Moretti/Effetre. I loved the bright colors. These beads are worn with Kimono. Glass head pins for sewing❤️ The glass is Satake. The working temperature is low, so it's easier to make these kind of delicate things. I had a fascination with patina of old glass which inspired me to make this series of glass beads. The material is Satake and thick silver foil. Ocean themed. My love of seashells started as a child.

You are right. Japan has always been limited in natural resources for glassmaking. I’ve often wondered what COEs American marble makers were working with. Do you happen to know? During the war, Japanese glassmakers had a hard time. They couldn’t import borate from America, which really impacted the quality of glass. For example, ampoules made during that period became poor in quality, and they couldn’t preserve the medicine inside properly. Interestingly, Seike named his business “Seike Hard Glass Institute” before the war. He seems to aim to improve glass quality even then.

Fruit stripes is a lovely name! In Tokyo there is an antique shop called Toritori which specializes vintage toys. The shop owner does Instagram. Please find her posts @nishiogi_toritori. I'm sure you would enjoy her posts and find something you would like. I haven’t melted any of Seike’s marbles myself, so I don’t know the COE. For cat’s-eye base, makers typically used recycled cullet. The colored glass needs to be compatible with the base, so I’d guess they formulated the colors to suit whatever cullet was available at the time? Satake started supplying glass to lampworkers in the early Showa era, but I haven’t come across any specific connection to marble makers—either transitionals or early machinemades. Have you heard of Kamitani? According to their records, they supplied colored glass to marble makers as early as the Taisho era. All the marble makers except Seike seem to use Kamitani colors. I once asked Kamitani about COE. They said they provide both soft and hard versions of each color so that marble makers could adjust for compatibility. I had been a lampworker for almost 20 years. I loved Satake, but also used Moretti/Effetre and other glasses like North Star. You know Satake and that surprises me!

Patch and ribbons in various reds. White is supplied to the slots which make ribbons in these marbles. One ribbon looks blended with a bit of red.

Hello Shamrock Marbles! Thanks for your interest. I'm happy to hear you like them. Below are variations of his marbles from local finds (not from the family).

Hi Aidan, thanks for your comment!😃 When Reiko shared the story and marbles with me, sharing them with others became my duty. I hope my report reach to many people here too.

Hi Ric, I also thought they are good... In Morito's "Marbles", similar looking marbles are shown as examples of 1945-1955 marbles (Showa 20's marbles). The 1959 Census is the last record I could find the entry of Seike's business, Nippon Special Glass Ball Mfg. Ltd.

Patch marbles. 12.5-13.4 mm. 17 mm for the most of the marbles.

White-base ribbon marbles.

Sounds like your wife had an eye for value—even if it meant raiding your stash! 😂 I guess she selected things which appealed to her most. I know cat's eyes don’t always get a lot of love from collectors, but they're part of childhood memories to lots of people (as E. A. Kempski says in her book). Marbles can go from being “just rocks” to treasures once you start digging into their history and craftsmanship. I hope the research I’ve been doing on Japanese marbles helps with that. Talking about Mr. Morito, too busy to research marbles may not be nice to say, but I can’t really blame him. He's the person who founded the Japan Marble Association, published newsletters and a marble book, planned marble events for kids, and even opened marble museums— while running a big business and pioneering fiber optics in Japan. He traveled around the world. His patents counted somewhere over 80 ( if my memory is accurate). He wasn’t retired when he dedicated his passion into marbles, either. I have some marbles from Seike family for posting today. I hope you enjoy looking at them!

Ribbon marbles with a window, starting with darker reds. Reds in a lighter shade. In dark amethyst. Blues.