Marquee Marble Auctions

Starting off with an obvious question, how long have you been working with glass?

Approx. fifteen years, the last six years making marbles.

What role has your father played in your interest in glass working?

He built the cabin/studio that I work out of, he was a glass blower for over thirty years.

What was it like to go from production glass working to doing your own custom designs?

Its great to be able to take my own time as needed and my own creativity to come up with and try new designs.

What were some of your first works of glass art? For example did you start making marbles right from the start?

I made glassware for the Mid-Atlantic Glass Co. and then the Fenton Art Glass Co. (pressed and blownware). I starting making glass eggs and figurines on the side. Then in 1999 I started making marbles.

Are you still involved with the Fenton Art Glass Company, and if so is it a struggle to find the time do your own work?

No, I left Fentons in 2002 to do make marbles full-time.

How long does it take to make the components of the cane, the cane itself, and then of course the marble from the cane?

All the colors that I use come from Germany and start off in a 1" rod, so I spend two days mixing these colors and pulling them into small enough rods to be worked with. I also make my own sheet glass for covering larger surfaces of the design. So I spend about four days every two weeks just getting the colors ready. Once I get all the colors together I stare at them until I can visualize what the completed components will look like and how it should be put together. It takes me around an hour to put together a cane. Which can be shaped into 6-7 marbles or 1-2 large marbles. It only takes about thirty five minutes to cut the marbles off the cane, This only pertains to cane marbles. Most of the marbles I make today are one offs. For example my Tetrispheres, Hexasphers, ArtWorks and Relief Texturing etc...

Having seen some diagrams and pictures of marbles being made in books, are you basically making marbles the same way as they did over a century ago?

The cane style techniques are basically gathered and layered the same but with more attention to quality and detail on a slightly larger scale at a slower pace.

I assume today's materials and color palette are much more diverse than the glory days of old, any thoughts on what a craftsman from long ago would think about today's options?

Actually the colors we use have been around for 100 years. I 'm sure they would have enjoyed the effects of dichroic but at the same time they had some of the best gold lutz I've ever seen.

With your work experience, what do you think it would of been like making marbles back in the day in terms of the pace and the working conditions?

I believe when they made a normal production cane, they pulled them much smaller then I do meaning they probalby were able to cut off around 60 marbles, from a 4' cane that was cut into shorter approx. 8" sections then cut into marbles. So the pace would of been much faster and the process was divided up amongst different workers.

Your Dichroic marbles are one of our favorites, what basically is "dichroic" glass, and was it difficult to work with at first?

Dichroic glass is available in sheets around 1/8" thick in a 18" diameter circle. For about $160.00. Metal oxides are vaporized with an electron beam in an airless vacuum chamber to create an array of different colors. Yes working with dichroic was a big step. I had to find new ways of incorporating sheet glass into my designs which were normally made using round canes.

How long have you been working with "dichroic", and what is it that attracts you to it?

Around four years, I love the way it sparkles and adds character to a piece when the light catches it.

Another style of yours we've enjoyed was referred to as a "SeaWeed" I believe, similar in style to your Artworks Series, where did the inspiration come from for that rather unique design?

The ArtWorks Series marbles were my first orgional design, their actually made one at a time backwards from any other design I do. The first ones I made in 2000 were made from a Glory Hole. I wasn't working out of a furnace at the time, so I had to find other ways to get the crystal on the outside. So I eventually figured out how to shove the color into the glass rather then layering the colors.

Help me out here, the design on many of your marbles goes from the lower right to the upper left, often referred to as a "left hand" twist on old German handmades. Which way do you twist the design on your marbles, and do you have any thoughts on why the vast majority of older handmades are twisted in the opposite direction?

I normally twist clockwise because I'm right handed and it feels more comfortable, although I do twist some Josephs Coats and Clambroth canes counter clockwise because they seem to look better counter clockwise.

Have you copied the classic styles of the old handmades, and is that a good place to start for the "newbie" wanting to learn how to make furnace marbles? For example learning how to make solid cores, single or double ribbons, latticinios, etc.... or does it not really matter.

In the beginning I studied alot of old Italian cane techniques and worked from there adding my own touches. Defintely solid cores, ribbons, latticinos are all made differently and untill you've mastered these it would be impossible to move on to larger projects like filigranas.

What is a "stringer", and is that what we're looking at as a main design component in your Filigranas and Imperial Dragons for example?

Stringers are very small in diameter pieces of glass. I actually don't use any stringers. One of the hardest things to learn in glass is how to acheive good color. I start with large rods, build the canes and stretch the entire piece to make everything smaller and more detailed.

Wow! How in the heck are you able to make a 4" in diameter marble? Is it difficult to anneal and keep round in the process?

4" marbles are made basically the same, but are much harder to make round and are more likely to have annealing fractures and since they cost around 5 times more to make it can be an expensive learning curve.

I guess your wife Bobbie dabbles a bit in marble making, you guys ever fight over furnace time? :-)

My wife Bobbie started making torch marbles in 2002 and about a year ago I began teaching here how to make swirls and onionskins. We've worked togther pulling our own handmade millifori pieces. Resulting in some really neat collaborative marbles (3-D Alien World and Fathom marbles). Her cane torch marbles are made from the canes we pulled from the furnace.

Where you gonna be over the holidays? Is your work shop open to the public, are you gonna be at any particular marble shows?

Right here at home in the scenic hills of West Virginia. Yes our workshop is open to the public. We travel through out the year to many different marble shows. Our next being the Santa's Marble Show on Decenber 17th, in Alliance Ohio. Then on to the New Philly show in Feb.

Where can folks go to purchase your marbles on the internet?

Website: Eddie Seese Art Glass Marbles and Ebay seller ID: eddieseese

What other hobbies are you into?

My wife grew up building hotrods with her dad. She is currently building a 1947 Ford Coupe. So in between marble shows we attend car shows. I am also interested in Astronomy, relief carvings and sculptures.

We want to thank Eddie for taking the time to answer some questions, of course we would be remiss if we didn't aknowledge that behind every busy man is the woman who actually runs the show, thank you Bobbie for all your efforts in helping us put this feature together. We also hope that you'll visit Eddie Seese Art Glass Marbles and see more of Eddie's and Bobbie's gorgeous works and to add their marbles to your collection.