Who does not love Marbles ! I related it to little distant planets and moons when I was a Kid, even now it is an object of fantasy for many kids. Why we fancy about humble marbles? It is a great art also.
A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, plastic or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about 1/2 inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.54 cm) in diameter, but they may range from less than 1/30 inch (0.111 cm) to over 3 inches (7.75 cm), while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 12 inches (30 cm) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors. In the North of England the objects and the game are called “taws”, with larger taws being called bottle washers after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles.
The Marble might be originated in Harappan civilization in Pakistan near the river Indus. Various marbles of stone were found on excavation near Mohenjo-daro. Marbles are also often mentioned in Roman literature, and there are many examples of marbles from ancient Egypt. They were commonly made of clay, stone or glass.
Various games can be played with marbles; any such game can itself be called “marbles” (cf. darts,skittles, bowls).
One game involves drawing a circle in sand, and players will take turns knocking other players’ marbles out of the circle with their own marble. This game is called ringer but is also known by other names. Other versions involve shooting marbles at target marbles or into holes in the ground (such as rolly or rolley hole). A larger-scale game of marbles might involve taking turns trying to hit an opponent’s marble to win. A useful strategy is to throw a marble so that it lands in a protected, or difficult location if it should miss the target. As with many children’s games, new rules are devised all the time, and each group is likely to have its own version, often customized to the environment. While the game of marbles was once ubiquitous and attracted widespread press to national tournaments, its popularity has dwindled in the television age.
Indian Kids Playing Golli
Kanchey or Batti or Golli is one of the most popular traditional Indian games played all over the India, it is also called as Marbles in English. This game is considered as one of the street game and is banned by many parents nowadays. This game increases the aiming and concentration skills.
The British and World Marbles Championship has been held at Tinsley Green, West Sussex, England, every year since 1932.More than 20 teams from around the world take part in the championship, each Good Friday; German teams have been successful several times since 2000, although local teams from Crawley, Copthorne and other Sussex and Surrey villages often take part as well; the first championship in 1932 was won by Ellen Geary, a young girl who lived on a ranarium in London, England.
Making of Marbles
Today, the making of glass marbles is fully automated full sets of marbles completed in just a fraction of the time it once took to make a single marble. Large amounts of glass are melted during a single step in an immense furnace. The glass is heated to a temperature of 1,500 degrees, creating a flowing stream of molten glass. Once melted, the glass slides down a flat opening nicknamed “Gob-Feeder”. Once the glass had passed through the feeder, it moves into a grooved machine mechanism
Once inside the machine, the glass is colored. A wheeled edge moves the glass in a semi-circular motion into a groove machine part. The heated glass orbs are then separated and enter the rolling process before the glass hardens.
After being rolled into round shapes, they are culled to allow the shape to cure. This is the final step before the packaging and shipment of a bag of marbles. Marbles are still made in the United States.
Marble making is still completed by hand, and is considered a work of artistic expression. Individual artists still practice the art of glass blowing, and sell intricately detailed marbles of all sizes to both collectors and marble fans around the world. The process of glass blowing a single marble takes much longer to complete than the professionally manufactured marbles found at discount stores. Artisans use the old-fashioned tongs to mold the hot glass and place the creation into a kiln for curing. The glass blown marbles are often adorned with objects or animal displays suspended into the marble’s center.
Courtesy & Source : Wikipedia, Youtube & Tara Dodrill (voices.yahoo.com)