Look, I apologize in advance for all the innuendo in this clip

January 5, 2023 8:19 PM

BBC short series Magic Of Making brings us Glass Marbles. See how these stripy objects are made!
posted by hippybear (16 comments total)

Those marbles are more paperweight than marbles! I’m betting they’re not sold by the bag.
Loved the innuendo, and the narration.
posted by BostonTerrier at 8:40 PM on January 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

The last time I saw a child so unexcited by marbles was the last time I saw a child. Listen, glassblowing is cool and all, but kids haven't been interested in marbles since Reagan's first term.
posted by phooky at 8:59 PM on January 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

No need to apologize; I'd say the narrator was the opposite of apologetic - downright gleeful, even!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:24 PM on January 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Here's another video showing how more mass produced marbles are made - and another
posted by mbo at 10:28 PM on January 5, 2023 [8 favorites]

Very cool to see these skillful artisans at work. Looks pretty dangerous, too. I’d love to go there.
posted by waving at 4:29 AM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

There's only one use for marbles—make them compete!

I have lost more time than I'm comfortable to admit watching the silliness.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 4:56 AM on January 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Here's another video showing how more mass produced marbles are made - and another

I was wondering about that; it seemed doubtful that the process shown in this video would work for mass production.
posted by Gelatin at 5:36 AM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

This being the Age of the Internet, there are people who get all kinds of excited about all kinds of things and Marble Runs are no exception. Wildly overproduced marble sporting events for the whole family.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:42 AM on January 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

The narration is a delight!

5:15: "The marble maker turns and shapes the end of the glass rod into a maaaaaaar-buhllllll!"

I'm going to be saying it that all day now, MARRRRRRRBUUHLLLLLL
posted by mochapickle at 7:13 AM on January 6, 2023 [4 favorites]

True fact for American fans of Are You Being Served?: British yarbles are also called Bennies, after the late comedian Hill, due to the absolutely filthy ways by which they are made.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:56 AM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

I was just telling my Pokemon card-obsessed child this morning that I never had collections when I was a kid. But this has reminded me I had a huge marble collection at one point. There was a brief craze for playing marbles at my primary school (circa 1990) but I mostly loved them for the colors and patterns. I wonder what happened to that collection...
Thanks for the video! Innuendo aside, glass blowing is magical. I wish I was brave enough to try it.
posted by EllaEm at 10:23 AM on January 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

phooky: The last time I saw a child so unexcited by marbles

These children aren’t unexcited, they’re just British.
posted by Kattullus at 10:51 AM on January 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

♡ marbles! I still have some aggies, excavated from my old back yard, (as an adult gardening,) where at the turn of the twentieth century railroaders gathered to play horse shoes, and the kids played marbles. Some marbles are made of polished and tumbled agate, hence the name aggies. The shooter marble is called a taw. You have a big taw, and you risk your smaller marbles. You can lose all your marbles, that is, if you play "for keeps." Sometimes bigger kids would take advantage...

I love glass marbles and Ioved playing marbles as a kid. Used to be you could pick up a big 2 inch catseye, hand made at the Saturday Farmers Market, in SLC, only $40 or so.
posted by Oyéah at 5:24 PM on January 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

I no longer have any of my childhood marbles, but I still have the bags my mother sewed for my collection. (Some of my dice live there now.) Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
posted by gentlyepigrams at 7:21 PM on January 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

A few years back* a pop-up marble stand appeared in the parking lot by the local organic grocery store, and I had more fun than it would be seemly to admit by picking a few, which are now suspended on my keychain, keeping company with a llama and a few charms of other kinds. And a couple of keys.

Because seriously, who can resist a pop-up marble stand? It never reappeared. I'm so glad I bought a few that day. Having watched (all) those videos, I'm extra appreciative of the skill and heat it took to bring them into existence.

*About fifteen years back, come to think of it.
posted by Shunra at 8:59 PM on January 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

... a pop-up marble stand ... It never reappeared

Incidentally, "black market marbles" is my new sockpuppet name.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:22 PM on January 6, 2023 [2 favorites]