noob style imploded retti mib

[EarthTones]

Well I don't know if this is really worthy of posting here,but I'm excited so whatever. Sorry the pics are a little glarey,that's why I don't post marbles really cause I can't ever get a glare free,clean shot. Well anyways,5 months in & I only tried the retticello a couple times before with no luck,so today I dedicated to figuring it out. I had some really great results on 1" tube & found the basic technique (note,I said basic,I know these can get pretty sick & intricate) to be super easy & now have a new trick up my sleeve. I used the technique I heard Cosmo mention in that old retti thread,to draw 1st set & twist then draw 2nd set slightly angled & connect to the bottoms of the first set then twist back till it looks good. Anyways,I made this marble & thought it was cool,so I wanted to share it,it's an imploded retti ,with some backing,don't know exact size,but it filled my 2" cherry block,so I'm guessing 2",it's a good little chunk of glass & took a while to finish. The backing looked better,just pinwheels,then I tried to add some rakes in between & I f&d it up a little,oh well. Let me know if I over -imploded,the retti looked perfect & it really sucked up & condensed into it'sself & when I imploded it.
PS. Don't know if anyone cares,but cause it's kinda hard to see in pic,colors are blue spruce,black & butterscotch

[Galaxie Glass]

Very nice kepp it up !

[EarthTones]

Thanks Krossin. This thing looks pretty sick in person,the implosion really has a lot of 3-D depth,but it's so hard to photograph marbles & capture the detail without any glare,that's why I was hesitant to post it,because the pictures kinda suck ass.

[CripSkillz]

i hear ya on photoing mibs its hard all of its hard kinda, but not bad but it seems it might be over twisted a bit, im no pro so take what i say with a grain.., tha back actually looks pretty cool man

[The Cheese]

Cool! How do you get the swirls on the back of the marb? Is that just a solid dark color then dotted/dragged into a paisley type thinga ma job then cooked in? Burning question in my mind today.

[EarthTones]

Hey Glasspipe,here's a quick rundown on the whole process I used. Make your design on tubing(retticello,wigwag spiral,honeycomb,etc.) ,then discflip & condese it a little. Next take a big gather on a clear rod & smoosh it to the pattern & MELT in really well & round,this is the lens & the front/top half of your marble. Next take another big clear gather(slightly smaller) & smash that to the bottom to form the bottom of your marble. Then for the bottom you are asking about coil pot a dark color onto the clear bottom & melt in really well & round. Then add dots in a pattern & melt them in,you can layer the colors,for the dots here I used 3,butterscotch,blue exotic,then ruby on top,melt these dots in in an oxidizing flame so they don't boil or distort ( Crayon colors are very hard to use for this,best to stick with colors that won't boil real bad when you melt it back in). Then for the paisley thing (which looked awesome on this marble until I decided to rake part of it & screw it all up) you heat in between the dots with a pinner flame & then twist with a small clear rod until you have the desired effect. As far as raking,just heat the dot it'sself up & then take a tungsten rod or other thin metal tool & drag it after you heat the dot up. Do whatever dot/paisley pattern you wish & then heat up the whole bottom & round/shape it out. Have fun!
I hope to post another cool one soon,I've been making these tiny reversals out of colored tubing & I'm going to lens one or a bunch stacked up into a mini bitch window marble when I have the time,these big marbles take a while. Also wan't to do more rettis,this one had a lot of lines,I was looking around Glassartist & noticed some really sweet ones that only use 6 lines each way.

[The Cheese]

Thanks for the rundown. I'll fav it so that I can come back to it later.

[EarthTones]

Right on,I forgot to mention if you wan't to implode your pattern do it after you lense it,but before you add the second half of the marble.