I've just spent the week in Scarborough with 'im outdoors, the dog and my in-laws.
It was a nice week away, but I think I bemused the in-laws by disappearing for a couple of hours on Monday afternoon so I could take a marble making class.
I've been wanting to try marble making for ages, but didn't have the confidence to do it by myself.
I knew that Martin at Tuffnells Glass does a marble making 1:2:1 but at 2hrs it doesn't really justify the 6hr drive! However, when I realised we'd be staying a 30min drive away I booked a session.
Although the rest of the week was quite cool, I still found myself sweating away in a glass studio again!
Over the course of the 2hrs I learnt how to make a vortex marble and one with dichroic glass (a glass that changes colour in different light). Two different techniques but with lovely results. I think my recent classes with Laura helped too.
Then I had to wait before I could have a proper look as they had to anneal in the kiln. We went back a couple of days later on the way to Bempton Cliffs (we saw puffins!!) to pick them up.
So they are not round, and one has a dent where I dropped it while melting in the punty mark. Oops! But as first go marbles I'm very pleased. I understand the concept and I'm pretty sure I could do this again at home, although they will probably be smaller with my little torch. And I think if I had more time I could get the shaping better, but I didn't want to keep 'im outdoors waiting as he came to pick me up.
I can really see how each thing I learn builds on previous skills and improves my skill set as a whole. And while it can still sometimes be frustrating when things don't work, over all I'm very satisfied with the skills I'm building.
(They are really hard to photograph. You can find a video of them on my Instagram.)
