Glass Art and THANKS Brother!

I have wished for a crystal ball ever since the early 1960's. I thought maybe I could see visions of some sort by looking in the ball in a quiet place of solitude. Then I forgot about one until just lately when I see that photographers are using and experimenting them in their artistic works. Again I wished for one and even bookmarked a page to buy myself one but could never justify the expense. I wanted a high quality and large one! I mentioned it to my brother a couple of weeks ago because I knew both he and my nephew had made some in the past. I remember my nephew tried to take a picture outdoors on a sunny day and, as he was holding his reflective sphere, he experienced a burned thumb when trying to take a photo. My brother had designed a machine to make glass spheres in his "glassman" business. He told me he sold a lot of them.

Nephew's thumb burning

Several years ago, both of them visited an artist who lives about 30 miles from us. They came back excited and he had given them each some pieces of his glass to work with. Today a large ball, made by my brother of Christopher Ries's glass was given to me. It measures about 3.15" (approx. 80mm) and weighs 650g (about 22.93 oz.) Brother created it from one of the square blocks of optical glass. I was overwhelmed! I set it on a hard plastic dip cup and took 3 pictures. Now I need to make a velvet pouch for it's keep!

 I am thinking about finding a round clear rubber ring to help place it on things to shoot my pictures. Something soft so as not to scratch it. To learn more about Christopher Reis, click on the links below. He was just featured on our local tv station about a week ago.

Christopher Ries

Christopher-Ries
Christopher Ries on Local TV