Monday, May 18, 2009

I Found My Marbles

Clay Marbles by Linda Starr

In my first ceramics class I started experimenting and pushing the limits of the clay from the very beginning, trying different techniques and different types of clay. I was often told that won't work, those will explode, you can't do that with clay, or we don't use that type of clay. But I persisted and I insisted. (I'm a stubborn little cuss after all). At the time I was working with three different stoneware clays - a red, a dark brown, and a tan. I knew little about clay then, I was just attracted to the colors and textures of the different clays.

Clay Marble by Linda Starr

At the end of the semester I had a little bit of each of the three clays left. It seemed I didn't have enough of any one color clay to make anything, but I hated to waste the clay. I thought about combining the three clays into one piece. I made a hand built tray layering the three clays together. Then I noticed I still had a little bit more of each clay left, so I decided to roll the three clays into some marbles. The marbles are solid clay and range in size from 0.5 to 1.5 inches in diameter. Amazingly the twenty-two marbles just fit inside the tray. I couldn't fit another marble in if I wanted to.

Marbleized Clay Tray by Linda Starr
6.25" x 7.25 x 1.75"

When my instructor saw the tray and marbles he explained that different clays shrink at different rates and they might not stay together. I asked him if I could try firing them anyway, and he said OK. I bisque fired them and, much to my surprise, they made it through the bisque. When I was unloading them from the kiln, in my inexperience, I picked up the bisque tray with the marbles inside from the side without supporting it. The side gave way from the weight of the marbles. I was so disappointed I put the tray with the marbles in a cabinet at the college thinking I'd worry about them the next semester.

Marbleized Clay Tray with Clay Marbles by Linda Starr

This year, many years later, I was rummaging around in the cabinets and was happy as a lark to find my marbles and tray at the back of a cabinet on the very top shelf. What a great surprise; sometimes the littlest things bring me such unexpected delight. I decided to fire them to cone 10. When I took them out of the kiln the other day, I saw the tray and marbles made it through the cone 10 firing. They have a rough texture and beautiful colors all blended together randomly.



Gary said the broken side of the tray looks like it has deteriorated over time, like an ancient game of marbles just discovered. This marbleized tray with marbles feels special to me. I guess it is marks a time when I first realized I truly loved working with clay.


I remember I used to love collecting and playing marbles when I was a child. I remember cat eyes, puries, boulders, aggies, and others. I got to thinking about clay and did a search and found out there were actually clay marbles mass produced back in the 1800's in Akron, Ohio. Before that clay marbles were imported from Germany and some of these vintage marbles were called Bennington clay marbles. I learned there is a whole repertoire of marble terminology. I also learned there are folks who now specialize in making contemporary clay marbles.


Wonder what else I can make with three colors of clay, hand blended together? As I was photographing the marbles I noticed they looked nice arranged in a pattern and thought about making some marbled discs or squares and mounting them on a board. As I was looking at the tray I realized I can't even remember how I made the marbled clay. Have you made marbleized clay? How did you go about making it?


My first year working with clay I learned it never hurts to try. This year I again learned, it never hurts to try. I think I'll explore marbleized clay a little further. The flowers are dahlias blooming near my studio.

17 comments:

  1. the poor tray! so many pretty marbles alright...

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  2. Hi Gary, thanks, the marbles are kind of cool, but are little rough to use as marbles.

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  3. The marbles remind me of far away, undiscovered planets! I enjoy reading how adventurous you are, nice job Linda.

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  4. Loved the marbles. Like your creative spirit.

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  5. I didn't know clay marbles were once made and that there are collectors - though it makes sense. Makes sense though...I had picked up a book that looks through the ages and history for my daughter and some of the first money (at least how we think of it as something that can buy or be used to trade with) was made out of clay.

    I have marblized clay before - much like you did. I used porcelain and brown stoneware and had much the same reaction from my instructor at the time as yours. Guess what - it fired terrifically. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmgart/136469230/in/set-72057594119376687/Nowadays, I mix in clay of the same clay body colored with Mason Stains. I don't do it often. Check out the work of Jane Peiser.

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  6. Linda, I love them! And this is an especially timely post for me as I'm experimenting with marbelizing (mostly sing mason stains) on myown work. The results ahown here, both in your early work and in Jane Peiser's pieces is spurring me on to keep experimenting!

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  7. Hi Cindy, thanks, I really am having a great time with the clay and each experiment leads me to another, it's never ending.

    Hi Max, thanks, it really is amazing what one can do with clay if you let yourself go.

    Hi Cynthia, thanks, now I remember you posted some of your marbleized clay vases and at the time I remember I thought they were so beautiful. I am familiar with Jane Peiser and Vince Pitelka, but they color the clay and I just used the natural clay's color which truly amazed me that it made it through the Cone 10 firing.

    Hi Becky, please keep on your path of experimenting - I was recalling the pieces you posted a bit ago which looked like mountains that were cut away, those pieces really spoke to me at the time you posted them. Experimenting freely is, I think, the wonderful and important work of clay - that done without a thought to what should be done, or what others have done before, but just having fun with the clay.

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  8. Linda, glad your marbles were found, they are so cool, and the tray looks like an ancient piece from long long ago. I have done layering of colored slips and they work great too.

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  9. Hi Yolanda, thanks, nice to see you here, I hope your sale went well this past weekend; I am already thinking of making some pendants with these clay, I just love the earthy colors; you were such a great teacher and an inspiration to me.

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  10. Hi Cynthia, I just looked at your vases and those were the ones I was thinking of, - they are so beautiful, thanks for the link.

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  11. I loved Cindy Shake's comment about the marbles being like "far away, undiscovered planets". The marbles look great, and the history about Bennington clay marbles was interesting too. I never realized that there were clay marbles before. Stunning Dahlias.

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  12. Hi Peter, thanks, they really are like planets as they have a rough texture like the face of a small planet might be. I never knew there were clay marbles either, I just figured if I thought of making clay marbles, surely someone else had done the same before me. Thanks about the dahlias, this is the first place I have ever grown dahlias, they really are rewarding. I have mine planted in some of my bins and I didn't dig them up - too much trouble, but we don't get hard frosts here either.

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  13. Oh hey everyone, I just remembered when Gary first saw the clay marbles, he said he thought of using them as sling shots like he did when he was a kid with glass marbles. Ha!

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  14. cool marbles... the days of slingshots seem long gone don't they? beautiful dahlia

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  15. Hi Jim, thanks, yeah long gone, wonder if kids play with marbles any longer?

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  16. Hi... I'm catching up on blog reading. These marbles would also make great jewelry-- pendants and earrings... how beautiful!

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  17. Thanks Amy, that is a great idea, the clay is a little rough for pendants, but I could use colored clay made from porcelain - that would be beautiful, I might give it a try.

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