Delicious Fried Marbles

    I never thought I would ever be compiling a recipe for jewelry. Then again, there are a lot of things I have discovered in my crafting ventures I didn't think I would ever be doing. I've discovered a how-to on a blog that had weird unclear pictures and I'm not sure English was their first language. Either way, I managed to deduce the instructions and give a simple recipe out of trial and error, lots... lots of BAD error. How bad of error? I'm still trying to get the feeling back into my index finger from slicing it off. Take it from me, I've made a recipe that is NON-finger slicing.

***Before you start this project, please please please  DO NOT use marbles from a previous bake that didn't crack the way you wanted the first time around. Doing this can result in a complete crack and break in your hands. I cut the end of my finger off this way***

    That being said, let me explain what it is that makes a fried marble. It is a super heated marble that is then shocked in freezing water causing fissures on the inside of the marble and micro fissures on the outside of the marble allowing the marble to retain its shape. Sounds all sciencey and fancy huh? It is kinda like how we all thought vinegar and baking soda volcanoes were gnarly in second grade. It looks a whole lot cooler than the real science behind it.

    Here is the step by step process of making one of these bad boys.

1. Buy marbles. Sounds easy right? After much trial and error, the thicker the marble the cooler the outcome. In other words, don't buy flat vase fillers. The thinner marbles, whatever shape they are are more likely to crack. Also, ONLY buy clear or marbles that you can see through mostly. If you buy opaque marbles, it kind of defeats the purpose of frying the marble. You won't see the neat cracks inside

2. Get a bowl that holds at least 4 cups. Fill 1/2 to 2/3 with ice, the rest with water. Make sure you leave a good couple inches from the top so you can dump the marbles in later with out over flowing.

3. Place your marbles on a cookie sheet and put in the oven at 425-475. Now this makes them baked marbles instead of fried. I know, I know... I tried frying them but found it took much longer to get them hot enough and much more effort using a frying pan.

4. Let them bake for 20 min. No less or they will not heat up enough, any more than that isn't needed but it won't hurt the process.

5. Take marbles out of the oven and dump directly into the ice water. If you wait, you run the risk of the marbles cooling down and not cracking enough.

6. A few minutes is enough for the marbles to fully cool. Scoop out the ice and pour off the water. Dry the marbles however you see fit.

    If you want to make them into pendants like I did, this requires a little more patience, but is still on the very easy end. All you need are end caps or end beads, E6000 glue (I recommend this glue simply because has worked the best with my gluing experiments), and between a 14 and 18 gauge wire for making your bail with a base.

1. Figure out the best way to make to make your bail with the end caps so it says secured when wearing the pendent.

2. Put in the bail and glue the cap to your marble.

3.Wait for the sucker to dry and there you have it!

Here are a few I made =]