I first met Jon Ramer at the Best Bead Show in Tucson years ago, and would usually see him there almost every year, as well as at our local SoCal show in Fullerton. Jon told me early on about this book he was working on, taking lots of interesting pictures for it, and I couldn't wait to see it. I finally received my copy when he completed it around Nov. 2010, and it was worth the wait. Jon spent years arranging and taking the pictures for the book, over 100 of them in all contained in this self-published 63-page book.

For each picture, Jon describes the marbles, artist, and the surroundings of the picture, which often contain fun art, doo-dads and baubles collected by Jon over his many years of travel as a military man. Jon has a fun and unique sense of color and creativity in the pictures he creates, both indoors and out. The marbles displayed range from contemporary art glass marbles to vintage, antique and mineral spheres as well - Jon has collected them all. Overall, a very enjoyable batch of eye candy, with fun to read descriptions which give us a nice glimpse into the art, the glass, and the man behind the camera.

Here are Jon's words from the inside book cover: "Marbles – they aren’t just kid’s toys. They’ve been the objects of play and fascination for literally thousands of years. Today they are an “object d’art” and are collected by approximately 400 million people worldwide. This is a collection of over 100 photographs of those wonderfully brilliant orbs taken in settings all over the world. Both mesmerizing and breathtaking, this collection shows the amazing skill and diversity artisans have in creating a simple sphere of colored glass. Each photograph captures the beauty of these works of art and of the natural world around it, showcasing the amazing skill of just some of the artists that create marbles, and one photographer who loves them. A career military officer and avid traveler, Jon draws on his international experiences in over 50 countries around the world in his photography. Having collected marbles since childhood and taken thousands of pictures over the 25 years of his military career, it was natural for him to combine these two loves (out of many) together."

Click this link to go to the website to purchase the book, where you can also see a preview of the pages contained within: Swirls, Whirls and Burls

Click the thumbnail below for a larger view of the book cover.