Brian Westwood - Marble Maker

Programme Outline

Brian Westwood makes a marble.

Brian’s helper prepares the glass for Brian by melting it in a furnace on a long rod. He also adds strips of coloured glass and powders of ground glass to colour the marble before handing it over.

Brian twists and bends the molten glass with tweezers to make swirls of colour. He shapes the glass against a paddle and removes part of it to roll it into a round shape. Finally he cuts the marble off from the rest of the glass and smooths the join with a blowlamp to make a perfectly round marble. Each marble takes at least 10 minutes to make.

The programme finishes with a display of just some of the glass marbles made at the House of Marbles in Devon.