I've been overflowing with ideas recently- which has been great!- and even though I'm really wanting to explore more sandblasting I've discovered a new technique in making fume murrini.    I've done several designs before but they were all singular pieces, now I can make complex canes with an amazing amount of detail.   These first ones are only scratching the surface so I'm really excited to see what I can come up with in the future!   I have several designs drawn out waiting to be made so keep your eye out!    The marbles pictured are currently listed in my eBay Store where you can see more viewing angles.

And of course I still am playing around with some different colors, etc. with the sandblasting... here are a few more I've done- I'm starting to get sense of certain colors I want to use but there are still many more to be explored.   For those who don't know/ understand- some colors aren't "what you see is what you get"... they change e.g. they "strike" or they "luster".   Essentially there is metal(s) in the color that cause a reaction to take place at a certain temperature or cause it to be affected directly by the flame atmosphere (more or less oxygen) of my torch.  For example, one color I use called "Amazon Lagoon" starts out blue, almost cobalt, but turns white on the outside (see the footprint marble below).   I still have color powder to explore too- it's another way of acheiving a contrast through application and then sandblasting... but that's another blog :)

This one has a black layer underneath gold and silver fume:

Here are some great purple colors I'm playing with:

And I had to do another footprint marble...

Kevin Nail

Welcome to my first blog..... ever!  Thanks for checking it out!

Well I got my sandblaster and have been having fun ever since!   There is a lot to learn and refine, but it's a great step in a new direction.   Even more then that, it almost transforms the glass into another medium.   Standing there carving the glass away with the stream of abrasive flowing through the air is a fascinating process!  It's a real dynamic to go from distorting the glass with heat to distorting with... a little machine gun.   My ideas are flowing so much I'm having to write them down so I don't lose them as I can only make them so fast....  it feels great to be so artistically inspired.

Here are some pics of my new style of marbles I just made this week.   They are just the beginning- they will only get cleaner and more complex :)  Be sure to check out my Store for more pics!

Kevin Nail