Glass Space Marbles

There are some strange optical effects with marbles that I try to take advantage of to make these space inspired marbles. With both the front and back acting as lenses there can be a sense of extra depth inside them which I use to give the illusion of distance. Over the years I’ve refined my ‘recipe’ using exotic colours, pure silver, & sometimes even gold to create the nebulas. For the planets & asteroids I use either layed colours, or moreoften Gilson opals. These are grown in a lab in Japan over 18-24months using the same minerals as naturally occuring opals, but don’t have the high water content so I can encase them in glass to make colourful etherial looking planets & asteroids

This is just a small selection of past work. Most of these are sold, for current available glass please check out my Etsy shop . I do not make many each year as they are very time consuming to make, I can be found at a few select astronomy events or comic-cons each year where people are able to select them in person

Click on any of the photos for a large picture