We talked to up-and-coming marble artist Vincent Glass Works (Joshua Vincent) about his astonishing glass marbles and what the future holds for his art. We ran into Vincent Glass Works at Glass Vegas 2021 and we couldn't help but scoop up an entire gun case full of his gigantic marbles to list on our website, and any serious marble collector would do well to pick up one of Joshua Vincent's marbles before his incredible skills get noticed by the glass industry at large.
Vincent Glass Works' journey began in the early 2000's when Joshua Vincent's friend started a small solo glassblowing shop in his backyard. Vincent would regularly watch his friend blow and he was especially fascinated by marbles, occasionally trying his hand on the torch and making small marbles with his friend. While other glassblowers treat marbles as a beginner's product and then quickly move on to other items, Joshua Vincent stuck with marbles and kept pushing himself to make them bigger and better. During these early years Vincent was limited to occasionally working on his friend's torch, and this put a hard limit on how far he could push his marble-making techniques. When Vincent Glass Works finally secured a studio and workspace of his own he was able to start pushing the boundaries of what he could do in the marble realm.
An early mentor of Vincent Glass Works was a blower by the name of Adam Mowell. Mowell was a friend of legendary glassblower Bob Snodgrass, and he taught Joshua Vincent many of the techniques that he continues to use in his marble work today. Adam Mowell continues to work with Joshua at Vincent Glass Works, and Vincent has encouraged him to use glassblowing as a physical therapy for his Huntington's Disease, something that has been incredibly beneficial in helping to ease Mowell's symptoms.
The marbles that Joshua is producing now through Vincent Glass Works are truly astonishing, regularly measuring more than five inches in diameter and often weighing several pounds. The level of heat required to craft marbles of this size is insane, and Joshua Vincent wears a special thermal suit when he works to avoid heat stroke and burns, though he has still given himself heat stroke several times from the intense radiant heat generated by his GTT Cobra torch, one of the largest torches that GTT manufactures. He regularly utilizes dichroic glass in his marbles, which is tricky to pull off on large marbles because dichroic glass is very heat sensitive and will burn easily. Joshua Vincent gets much of his inspiration from nature, fishing, hunting for agates, and meeting and talking to new people. He greatly admires legendary marble artists Scott Pernicka and Raven Copeland, and strives to one day match their level of skill and artistry.
In the future Vincent Glass Works intends to continue pushing the boundaries of what can be done in the realm of glass marble blowing. One day Joshua Vincent wants every marble that comes out of Vincent Glass Works to be at least 5" in diameter, which is quite a lofty goal, and soon he is hoping that he can set the Guinness World Record for blowing the world's largest glass marble. Vincent Glass Works will likely be attending Melt Festival 2021 so be sure to check out his amazing marbles if you're going to be there, and go check out his amazing work over on his Instagram page. (@vincentglassworks)
