If you get a divot in the marble, your cold seal wasn't a cold seal. The punty tip was too hot when you applied it to the marble. This is another one of those "feel" things. What I feel for is hard to explain, but I'll try. I hold the marble so that the end that I'm going to do the cold seal on is out of the flame. On a smaller marble this means that the entire marble is out of the flame. On large marbles I keep heat in the body and the steel punty while I'm waiting for the end to cool considerably. Then I heat the glass punty tip - only the tip! After removing the glass punty from the flame, and still holding the marble out of the flame, I count to between 5 and 8, depending on how large the tip of the glass rod is. The larger the punty, the longer I count. I then bring the two together and attempt to attach the punty. I say attempt because I have about a 20% redo rate where I don't like how it went on and I burn it off, reround and reattach. I can tell by the feel when it attaches if I didn't count long enough (this will cause a divot if I continue) or I counted too long (this will cause the marble to fall off before I'm done with my final rounding).

What do I feel for? Good question... When it's right it feels like I'm pushing a piece of cold playdough against the marble. It doesn't make a clink sound like glass touching glass - that would be the "counted too long" trigger. If it doesn't have any resistance, that's the "didn't count long enough" trigger. Like I say, it's a feel thing, and even I only get it exactly right about 80% of the time.

When I'm done smoothing the end where the steel punty was I flame anneal the entire marble (get the whole thing to an even temperature everywhere except the very end where the glass punty is. I anneal about 3/4 of the marble - maybe even a little more. Then I take the marble out of the flame and let it cool vertically (above the punty so there's no tension on the punty). I use my coat hanger tweezers to test to see when it's ready. This I do by sound. I hold the tweezers gently in my gloved hand (gloved because at this point I'm ready to put it in the annealer). I tap the marble ever so gently so that I can hear the tweezers ring. If the give me a nice bright, clear, tink, tink, tink, it's ready. If it's a dull tap then it's not ready. This again is an experience thing. There's no way that I can accurately describe this to you. What I'm actually doing is trying to determine whether or not the skin of the marble is sufficiently hard as to not dent when I hold it with the tweezers. This becomes much more critical as your marbles get larger because of the thermal mass of the glass. The marble has to cool much longer before you grab it with the tweezers to keep it from denting.

After I take hold of the marble (incidently, I've preheated my tweezers in the flame before tapping and before grabbing) I hold it so the punty is horizontal. I then place the punty over my graphite marble mold with the marble positioned just off the edge. This way I'm using a shearing action, exactly perpendicular to the marble. In technical terms, along the tangent. Anyway, the rod is tapped straight down on the marble mold and the marble just keeps going down past the top of the edge of the mold and is now free in my tweezers. At this point I hold the marble so that the punty scar is up and I melt it away. I then immediately put my marble into the annealer with the melted punty scar up.

what if I got some crazing on the cold side (where the glass punty was)?

Crazing means that you had uneven heat as some point in the process. If you're not doing the flame anneal step, that might cause crazing or even cracks because the annealer can't even out the stress in the marble fast enough.

Someone asked me once how long it takes me to make a marble with one of my designs in it. I told them, "I spend half my time making it and putting the design on or in it. I then spend the other half making it round and finishing it." This is probably not far from accurate.

Now, I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to quality, but here's how I think: I've just spent 40 minutes of my life making something that is a part of my creative energy. I've captured my creative essence in a medium that will last for thousands of years. The design is perfect, the colors are beautiful, there isn't a single bubble. What I have to remember is that NONE of that matters if I don't end with a good "finish." No one will ever SEE it if there's even a slight surface blemish or it's not round because I won't sell it - Period! So, if I give up at the end of those 40 minutes and accept something that I could fix with just a little more time and effort just because I'm tired, or to save money on oxygen, or for whatever reason, then I've spent my time in vain. The end result, which had so much potential to inspire pleasurable emotion and appreciation for centuries, not to mention wholesale for a lot of money, is now a worthless chunk of glass.

When I compare the little bit of extra time it takes me compared to how long my creation is going to live, it's a small price to pay...

help! I just can't get the marble to become round!

First, I can say without a doubt, you're working too hot. If a marble sticks in a wooden mold it isn't because there's too much or too little glass. It's because it's too hot and therefore too malleable and it gets hung over the edge. Otherwise, the mold would just burn out a little to accommodate something that was too large but not too hot.

Okay, what's too hot? It depends on what you're doing. For initial shaping (oblong to semi-round) I'd use my graphite mold and a hole that I know is too large. I'd heat it up very hot (intense glowing orange) and I'd work it in the mold. To get the initial round shape I'd get the entire marble medium hot (soft glowing orange) and still work it in a hole that is obviously too big. At this point I'm just eyeballing "round". I'll punty over once after getting the first end and middle eyeballed round.

Then, once the basic shape is round, I let the core cool. I only want to heat the outer surface of the marble when I'm putting the finish on. Obviously, I have to be able to heat deeply enough that I can adjust for any of my errors in "eyeballing" roundness, but it shouldn't be too bad. Orange peel skin and slightly misshapen at this point are natural. It can even be slightly oblong or egg shaped at this point and it won't really matter. However, no deep rifts or large surface blemishes should remain when going to the wooden mold. Those should all be smoothed out using the graphite mold and more heat.

When doing the final rounding and polish I try to start with my punty attached to where it will be on the final punty. I round what will be the "top" of the marble and the middle using just enough heat to "move" the surface enough to make it smooth. If it is egg shaped or oblong I might have to work it a few more times in the mold or with a little more heat, but in general I use light heat (just starting to glow orange) at this stage. Patience and persistence are key at this point. It's better to go back between the flame and the mold several times than risk disturbing your surface pattern, which is what will happen if you overheat it and catch it on the edge of the mold.

I then punty over to what will be the top, picking my punty point carefully so that it won't hurt the design. This may not be exactly on the top, depending on the design. At this point I use the same technique of light heat and repeated trips to the mold to finish the "bottom" of the marble and I typically recheck the middle. I then punty back over to the bottom with a glass rod for my final punty. At this point the marble is solid, round and smooth with the exception of the blemish on the top left by the punty. I gently heat and smooth that area, sometimes taking several trips back to the mold. I then flame anneal, remove the final punty and polish off the final punty mark.

Don't be afraid to use some pressure in the cherry wood molds (after checking to make sure you're punty is on securely). If you're only heating the surface and not working the glass too hot you don't have to worry about deforming the marble. On large marbles I often use enough force at this stage that I could easily snap a 4mm glass rod. That's another advantage of steel punties!

I just had a thought. Do you hold your molds in your hand or leave them sitting on the table? I know in Gerry Coleman's video he leaves the mold sitting on the table, but I NEVER do that. I have to have that tactile feedback from the mold in my hand to know how hard to push or which way to move to get it round.

I'd say my punty stays horizontal about 80 percent of the time. This takes care of the equator problems and keeps from getting short, squat marbles. I watched today as I was doing it and I usually roll several turns on the horizontal, then rotate up to 90 degrees, still spinning, and then quickly back down to horizontal for a few more rotations.

one time two of my marbles stuck together in the kiln . . .

Your annealer temperature is way too high. I keep mine at 850 degF. for Effetre. That's probably a little low for you because I have to take into account that some of my marbles anneal for 8 to 10 hours because they're in there throughout my entire work day. However, 950 degF. is way too high in my opinion.

The way to find the right temp setting for your kiln is to make a white "plug" and then encase it with Rubino Oro (Ruby Gold) Effetre glass. Round it into a marble and place it in your annealer on your fiber blanket. Let it anneal throughout your entire cycle and then examine it in the morning. If it has picked up the texture of your fiber blanket on the bottom then your annealing temp is too high. Adjust the temperature down 25 F and run the test again (make sure you smooth the marble again). Do this test until it comes out without any marks and is just as smooth coming out as it was going in. The reason I use this test is because Rubino Oro is the "lowest temperature" glass in the Effetre line.

All that said, I have a recommendation. Make 10 black marbles. Don't put any designs on them. Just make them all the same size and make them all round and shiny. When you can do this, Grasshopper, you will be ready...

I know how dull this sounds, and I know that you figure that if you're going to spend the time you might as well make something pretty! But... as my trumpet teacher used to tell me, if you can't get it right in practice, it's not likely to come out right in the performance.

The good thing about practicing this way is that later you can reheat the 10 "base" marbles in your annealer and use them to apply designs to and make larger marbles, so you're not wasting glass. (Or you can start your own set of Chinese checkers).

Use black to learn and save yourself a lot of headache. Black shows the heat index in the glass better than any other color so it's easier to learn with. Secondly, it's not sticky like green is. You can see just by the way green smears and changes color when touched to a graphite mold that it's got some funky things going on. Seriously, your time is worth more than your black glass!

If you're trying 1/2" I'd say move up to 3/4", but I'd also say to master 3/4" and 1" before moving up.

I do have to disagree with you that the size of the marbles is the problem or that it can't be done in a Hot Head. I actually started with a propane torch from a hardware store. You know, the kind that look like a Hot Head but you screw the little Coleman canisters onto!? I used that for almost two years doing beads and marbles before I ever switched over to a Minor. The trick is to turn the flame WAY down so that it's not so hot and not as reducing of a flame. I believe the same is probably true of the Hot Head as well. It sounds to me like you're trying to run the flame way too hot and bushy. The ONLY problem with turning the heat down is that it takes forever to get anything done. However, by using less heat you don't melt your punties and you learn to control the glass a lot better. This can only HELP you when you switch over to the Minor.

BUT . . .

I can't count the number of Hot Head users that I've told how much easier their lives would be if they would just buy a Minor burner, and rarely do they ever take my advice. The usual answer is that it is too expensive to set up. I never argue with this, because I've been there. I know how it can be when money is tight. However, in the back of my mind are always two questions: 1. What's your time worth! and 2. How serious are you about hot glass, because you're not going to get good at it on a torch that you can buy in a hardware store! Sorry...

First, I would bet you're using a graphite mold, not cherry wood. Graphite molds tend to bind and skip if the glass is too hot or if the diameter is too wide for the hole. In this case I go into a larger hole first to get the diameter down to where it will fit into the correct hole.

Second, this (an oblong marble) is a symptom of not having enough glass for the size of the mold. This sounds counter intuitive based on my last comment. However, what happens is that if there is not enough glass for the size of the hole, the mold can't support the marble as it is being rounded and therefore it squishes down in one direction and becomes oblong. If there is enough glass to fill the mold hold, it can'd move anywhere but up against the side of the mold and it stays round.

I use graphite molds only for initial shaping. I do all my finish work using cherry wood molds. The advantage of using wooden molds is that (unless the glass is extremely hot or the mold is not wet) they never grab or skip. The other advantage of wooden molds is that after you've been using them for a while, you've got a LOT of different sizes, because every time you use a wooden mold it burns out just a little bit. So... after I've done my initial rounding in the graphite I pick up the cherry wood mold I think I'll need and try it. If' its not the right size I go up or down accordingly (I keep them sorted by size in my water buckets). This way I always have the right size mold for the amount of glass I'm working, rather than always trying to have the right amount of glass for the mold I'm using. It's MUCH easier!

the mold is grabbing the marble! it won't let go!

Okay, a couple more things... One of the things I stipulate in my "Making Cherrywood Marble Molds" article is that the holes should be too shallow rather than too deep. If you're going to err, do it on the shallow side. This is because of the exact problem you're having. Yes, what's happened is that your mold has burned out and made an undercut. The only solution I can think of for this is to set that mold aside until you start making 1 1/2" marbles and then use it.

This brings up another point. You asked if I mean to go down "slightly" in size. The answer is no. I mean go big jumps. Based on your graphite mold description, I'd say go down no less than two and possibly three holes if need be. I did this the other day, just to make sure I was giving sound advice. I was making a 1 7/8" marble and I did my initial shaping in my 2" graphite hole. This is where I get all of the hills and valleys melted in. Then I did all of my actual rounding on the rim of a 1 1/4" and a 1 1/2" graphite hole. I then took it to my wooden mold and did my final polish rounding using the rim of a 1 3/4" hole. In all cases I used holes that were too small for the marble.

I did another one this morning that was a 1 inch marble. I did my initial shaping in a 1 1/2" graphite hole. Then I did all of my actual rounding on the rim of the 3/4" and the 5/8" graphite holes. Then I took it to my wooden mold and did my final polish rounding using the rim of a 3/4" hole.

The reason I like using the rim of the hole is that there is no way the marble can stick in the hole like you're experiencing. Also, I can move my punty from vertical to horizontal without risk of touching the punty to the mold. This isn't that big a deal with a metal punty but it will pop a glass punty right off if you touch a wet mold at the connection point.

but there are still undulations that won't flatten out . . .

The solution to this is a combination of heat and pressure. You certainly don't want to use so much heat that the marble sticks or catches in the mold. However, you should use enough heat so that when you apply latteral pressure on the punty any, and I mean ANY, lumps should flatten right out. I think maybe I scared you off of using ENOUGH heat now. It's okay to use heat, it just doesn't have to be glowing bright orange. It doesn't even have to get to the point where the marble can deform on its own from the heat. Just before that point, take it out of the flame, let the skin form for a few seconds, and then use latteral pressure to smooth out those lumps. By using latteral pressure in a mold hole that is too big you should be able to get a football shape with absolutely no lumps (other than orange peel if you're using a graphite mold).

Once you get the football, first gently heat the end and make it basically round in a graphite hole that is too big. Just eyeball it. Then gently heat it again and take it to a wooden mold that is way too small - at least two sizes - and twirl it on just the rim of the wooden mold. You should now have one half of a mirror shiny, not lumpy marble. Punty over and repeat on the other end.

I use the reflected light from the flame to determine surface quality. Hold the marble up next to the flame so that you can see the reflection of the flame in the marble's surface and rotate the marble. If the reflection wavers AT ALL then the surface is not completely smooth.

so what kind of lighting do you have at your bench?

I have a 300 watt quartz halogen work lamp directly overhead behind my right shoulder that points just beyond my torch. This way the halo of light lights up my entire work area but isn't directly on my torch. I used to hold the marbles up to the light to view the surface. A leisurly look is okay because all you have to do if it's perfect is flame anneal it and you won't have any problems. Either way you're going to stick it back in the flame anyway.

I said I "used to" use the light to check the surface. Recently I've converted over to using the flame for this purpose. If you hold the marble next to the flame and turn the oxy down you get a very bright light that is in a straight line. The reflection of this straight line wraps around the marble a little or a lot, depending on where you hold it. It allows you to check more surface area at a time. I can check up to 2/3 of the surface at any given angle all at once.

so how many did you make when you were beginning?

My kids each have twenty or so of my first ones. They're round but that's about it. They're all pretty ugly - nothing as far as technique goes, and they're all 3/4" or less. There were probably another 100 that made their way into friends fish tanks or my mother-in-law's floating candle jars.

Then I got my annealer and broke the 3/4" barrier. I could then make them up to 1" without fear that they would explode. Then I got my Minor and made my wooden molds and got them up to about 1 1/8". I have a box downstairs with probably 100 marbles from this period. They're an interesting study in experimentation and technique development. None are good enough to sign and I don't want them to get out into the public, so they sit in my basement. I'll probably destroy them at some point.

I'm just not getting it . . .

Practice, practice, practice... Be aware of what works WHEN it works and immediately try to repeat it. Your body has a "physical memory" when it comes to specific skills like raking or twisting ends. You have to do it the right way enough times in a row that your body knows what to do without you having to concentrate on every little detail. This is where the term "it's a feel thing" comes from. It literally is true. You can just FEEL that it's right or wrong when you've done it enough times.

I don't [guess]. I weigh the glass for my initial gather using a gram scale before I start. I know, from keeping years of records, how much glass I have to start with to get a specific size marble. I record every marble I ever make in a log book buy my workstation. I log what I'm making, how much glass of what color I'm using for the initial gather and how long it takes me to make it from the time I start my torch to the time it goes in the annealer. Sounds pretty anal, but that's how I determine how much to charge for my work. It also lets me know if I'm having an off day or if I'm just not concentrating, etc. because I know how long things should take and I can see if I'm on track.

and if there is too much glass?

Picking off glass is always easier than adding it. If the pattern is already on the marble, unless the marble has distinct ends where the glass can be pulled off, I don't try to alter the size. On swirled marbles and raked marbles it's very easy to pull some off from the end, but I never try to add glass once the pattern is on.

is it strategically better to choose a soft gloppy glass like white for a core, or a firmer glass like black or one of the aquas?

I tend to stay with a glass that is more stiff if I can, especially if I'm going to twist the marble. It's a lot easier to control the twist.

some colours don't get along with each other

Yes, different glass colors have different properties and therefore different melting temperatures. Opaque cobalt blue is one of the hardest to get smooth with ANYTHING but it can be done. The risk you run is that it takes a lot of heat and other colors can tend to smear when you're trying to get them to smooth with the blue. I usually encase the blue so that I don't have this problem.

and some are touchy about heat

True. Also, dark aqua is really touchy. Don't ever allow dark aqua to cool while you're working on another part of the bead or marble and then try to reheat it. It will bubble like crazy. If it ever happens, hears a little known trick that will save your work. Super heat it! That's right. Boil the heck out of it. Let it get the bubbles out of its system and they will all go away. It's pretty amazing, but it works. Most people just pitch it when it bubbles because they think its ruined.

Opaque turquoise is a reducing color. That's why it gets metallic looking. Yes, it's a known problem with that color as well as opaque violet and grass green to some extent. It's worst in a reducing flame but the turquoise will do it in any kind of flame if you work it too long.

Now, if you want to exploit this effect, try putting turquoise onto an ivory base. The initial effect will be that black lines will appear wherever the two colors meet. Then, if you work it a little the will start to merge and smear in really wild patterns. Don't work it too long though, or it will get really muddy looking.

is that how people get that perfect clear skin on a big marble?

Yes, in fact most people do. Most of the high dollar "Art Glass Marbles" that you'll see in galleries today are made using furnace techniques. There are only a handful of us that use the torch as their primary tool. Most of the big names use a furnace and glory hole set up. Some folks put torch work into their marbles, but then finish them with furnace techniques. I finally broke down and made myself a crucible kiln where I dip my marbles to get an even, clear coating. I did it by hand for years and finally realized my time was more valuable than the money it was going to cost to make that move. What that move did for my marbles was literally as unbelievable as moving from a Hot Head to a Minor burner was for you.