Beautiful video shows the art of making marbles

In a world of addictive smartphone games, it’s hard to imagine marbles as the most popular toys of their day. A glass marble seems to be the epitome of simplicity. But in reality, it takes skill, patience, and precision to make a single high-quality glass marble.

A video making the rounds of social media shows the marble-making process, step by step, and it is not only shockingly intricate, it’s absolutely mesmerizing to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D__Xfi8vEi8

Turns out making a single marble requires multiple stages of glass blowing, stretching, cutting, shaping, heating, cooling, re-heating, and measuring. Glass artisans use colored and clear glass to make the hypnotic, spiraled center of a marble. They painstakingly shape each one to create a perfectly smooth sphere. It’s true craftsmanship in action. And each marble becomes a work of art almost too pretty to play with on the ground.

As one commenter on Facebook said, “Wow I would’ve treated my marbles better had I known how much work went into a single one.”

More About Marbles

If you or your kids are inspired by this video and want to work on your marble skills, then here’s some good news. the sport of marbles might not be as popular as Pokémon GO, but is far from extinct. In fact, the 94th annual National Marbles Tournament was held in New Jersey just a couple weeks ago. Organizers declared twelve-year-old Sierra Ricci and 14-year-old Eli Murphy as co-winners after a riveting, exhausting four days of nonstop marble action. Each took home a crown and a $2,000 scholarship.

What more inspiration do you need to go buy a bag of beautiful marbles, and have some good, old-fashioned fun?

Want to learn how to play? It’s easy to learn, but challenging to master! Watch this helpful video and start your own marbles tournament today!