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Saturday, January 17, 2009

finding my marbles

I was the Marble Queen in school when I was a kid. Every day I'd set off for school with my big green MJB coffee can, filled with my precious collection. Mom was into making those over-sized bunches of resin grapes, so I had a "boulder" that was about the size of a tennis ball. I whooped poor Billy Halstrom on a regular basis...

I don't know what ever happened to my marble collection, same as I don't know what happened to my Barbies or my Screaming Yellow Zonkers Circus Poster. But a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at making marbles. It's similar to making beads, but since there's no mandrel involved, the finishing touches can be a tricky little balancing act. Some of my marbles come out more like eggs, but I'm getting better the more I practice. Not sure what I'll do with them, but they're fun to just have sitting there, collecting sunlight in a bowl on the kitchen table. My Work Ethic says Sell 'em, while my Inner Marble Queen says, Maybe you can fill another coffee can... just for fun.









5 comments:

Texan Zombie Goddess said...

I was big on the marbles when I lived in Germany. Everyday after school, all us American kids would get together and challenge the neighborhood kids. Good fun1

I agree with the sell em aspect :). Get some silver bails to fit on them and voila, you have a new pendant!

Remember who gave you the idea rofl (wink wink).

Stay warm,
Penny \IiiI

Anonymous said...

Love them.

Suzie

Anonymous said...

Ha ha !! ;o) you and me both Kim !!! I won all the marbles and had a massive one too that beat all the others !! I love the colours in them. By the end of my primary school days I had won most of the boys' marbles in my class and then some !!! Still got them in a bag I made especially! We also used to have an ice cream man come round and sell ice creams outside our house (as we lived next door to a park) and every ice cream we bought we'd get a free marble !!! Great times !!!

thorngrove said...

LOL! Me three - by the end of primary school no-one would play against either Wayne Latimer or myself. Of course there were marbles I loved too much to play with also.
Every now and then I go and drool over the online art marble websites. Some of them are unbelievable little miniature worlds.
These are lovely. The cranberry one and the smoke & teal one I especially love.
Fill a new can! It's good to have small beautiful things that make you happy.

Gwen said...

OH! These are so beautiful Kim! I've always wanted to try marbles, but they do seem tricky, with no "handle" for the finishing.

I didn't make a single bead in 2008--too busy with anesthesia school--but I've enjoyed looking in on your creative world from time to time. Hopefully this year I can get back to it.