Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Have you ever played with a glass ball? That is, marbles, the kind with patterns in it.

Every Chinese New year, Crazy Maru can always pick up some toys that he once loved, and colorful marbles is one of them. In my memory, when I was a child, I was no less addicted to "playing" than playing "Arena of Valor" to gang up. I could fight with my friends for an afternoon by drawing a circle on the ground.

But while playing, have you ever thought about the same question as Mad Maru: how on earth did you put the pattern in the marble?

The Japanese popular science program THE MAKING restores the manufacturing process for us. First of all, the material of glass marbles usually comes from waste glass bottles, which are classified according to color and then crushed into small pieces to use as materials:

In this process, the assembly line machine removes items such as paper labels from the glass, including the use of magnets to remove the residue of various metal materials:

After processing and filtering, the waste glass becomes solid-colored glass residue, which is transported as raw materials to the production line of glass marbles.

The first step in turning these materials into marbles is to soften. The marble material, that is, glass debris, is discharged into the dissolving furnace after entering the assembly line, where the temperature is as high as 1200-1400 degrees Celsius, which softens the material just right so that it can flow and cut at the same time.

The structure of the dissolving furnace is very much like the combination of water dispenser and septic tank. After softening at high temperature, the residue of unwanted raw materials will float or sink, while the materials that can really be used will flow from the middle to the outlet and discharged.

Then the material needs to be cut. The discharged glass material needs mechanical help to cut it to a suitable, uniform size:

Each portion will be cut very evenly, and the cutting process looks very comfortable and even a little greedy:

The cut marble material needs to be molded and cooled. The forming is easy to understand. The cut marble material is not spherical and needs further processing. A common machine is the following:

This is a conveyor composed of two continuously rotating grooved cylinders. The marbles will rotate and polish between the two grooved cylinders, while the machine will transport them to the next assembly line:

Of course, marbles are cooling throughout the process of polishing and transportation:

After the marbles are formed, "racing time" is up. Marbles drive fast on various corners and further lower their body temperature:

Finally reached the end of the track, the group flew into the box, and the transparent marbles were made.

So how did the pattern in the marbles come out? This kind of marble, also known as cat's eye marble, is often regarded as a treasure by friends because of its rare colors and appearance, but the production process is actually not as complicated as we thought.

To make this kind of marbles, you have to start with the first step of making marbles. In fact, the pattern inside is also made from glass, but it is only stained glass.

The secret of making glass is that two different colors of glass are placed in different positions when they are softened. Generally speaking, the material of colored marbles in the furnace needs to be placed in the middle of transparent marbles, which is called "sandwich":

When the two materials flow out, they are poured out together, and the transparent glass material will be exactly wrapped in the colored material. You can clearly see their layering when cutting:

The two materials will enter the stage of molding and cooling together, when the marbles will continue to rotate under the influence of the machine, the internal colored materials will be constantly swung at the same time, and gradually transformed into our common cat's eyes before cooling. In this way, the colors in the marbles are added.

Finally, no matter what kind of marbles they are, they have to be inspected and packaged, and then sent to us.

Of course, it is difficult to control the pattern of the marbles coming out of the assembly line. if you want the marbles to have a more beautiful pattern, you need to make them by hand.

To put it simply, the production of handmade glass marbles can be understood as a process of continuous softening and shaping. For example, the following little brother's demonstration, first of all, the transparent glass material is softened at high temperature, and then turned into a cylinder:

Then cut some of the desired colored glass core, such as pure white, and then, like a dip, roll evenly at intervals to allow the glass core to stick to the glass body:

Then soften again to integrate the white glass core with the transparent material:

By constantly rotating and stretching, the white glass core is pulled out of the mesh pattern:

Then soften and stick a layer of glass core again:

Then continue to soften, and then deal with the shape of the glass core to make it flat:

After softening them again, add another layer of stained glass core, and repeat the previous steps to continue to dish it:

At this time, the marble material already has a multi-layer pattern, and the plate is thin and long, especially at the front end, the prototype of the marble has been turned out:

Then break the connection between the marble and the material to get the marble, but now there are cracks in the top of the marble:

Soften directly with high temperature to make the fracture marks disappear:

Finally, the cooling is placed, and a multi-layer marble is ready:

Of course, different patterns have different production steps and processes when making marbles by hand. The following is more like making a hamburger, first burning the core, and then sandwiching it with transparent glass on both sides:

Finally, stretch infinitely, soften, cut, and roll on a layer of glass core:

Then start to polish it, dish it:

Finally, it is molded and cooled, and the internal pattern is equally exquisite:

Other powerful touches can be carved directly into marbles. For example, this Vicki Schneider, by constantly softening marbles and then constantly merging other materials with marbles:

The final effect almost turned the glass ball into a transparent spirit ball:

Another big shot, William Grout, created an undersea world inside the marbles:

After reading the craftsmanship of the above bosses, I believe you have found that in addition to our common transparency and cat's eyes, there are many kinds of marbles. For example, we first mentioned that handmade works belong to Latticino core, which is characterized by a spiral reticular pattern in the marbles:

The following categories are called Indian Swirls, or Indian whirlpools, but these marbles have nothing to do with India:

(the material comes from Mary Costello)

In addition, in terms of artistic sense, the Winlock Marbles series is also very famous. These marbles are dazzling as if they were injected with watercolors.

Fritts art glass is also one of the highly acclaimed marbles series, with finer patterns and more twisted lines, giving me the feeling of butterfly wings:

Of course, it is the cosmic marbles that have been popular in recent years. What's it like to hold the universe in your hand? Just look at Satoshi Tomizu's work:

He used other materials such as opal to create various planets in marbles. Gold and silver particles embellished the bright Milky way. When the lights are turned on, the effect should not be too beautiful:

When it comes to cosmic marbles, we have to mention Gateson Recko, whose starry sky is even more profound and mysterious:

This is a dynamic effect, and there is a sea of stars in the little marbles:

In addition, Crazy Maru also found another immortal work on Gateson Recko's website, with an island hidden in the marbles below:

How about it? do you really want one after watching it? Of course, the price of these marbles is also very "immortal". Take the Gateson Recko series, for example, the price is between $400 and $1200, that is, the most expensive is about 8000 yuan.

Think it's a little too expensive? But for rare marbles, these numbers are nothing. For example, the following classic lutzes marble. Built by a well-known marble company Christensen Agate, it is understood that because of its extremely rare color and certain age value, it has been auctioned for $25000, making it one of the most expensive marbles in the world.

Yes, a small ball is worth more than 160000 yuan. So, if you have marbles in your hand, don't forget to tell each other not to abandon them easily. After all, maybe one of them is a unique product, and it depends on it to get rich.

Reference:

Https://www.imarbles.com/makingmarbles.php

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_(toy)

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8JKnubjnJo

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSjd1opk3i4

Https://gazettereview.com/2018/09/top-10-most-expensive-marbles/

Http://www.winlockmarbles.com/single_marbles.htm

Http://www.frittsartglass.com/gallery.html

Https://universemarbles.bigcartel.com/product/desert-island-marble-skull-island-4

This article is from the official account of Wechat: mad Pill Research Institute (ID:kuangwanplay), author: mad Maru

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