When Cindy Burghardt found the bag of marbles her college-aged son had abandoned, she didn’t just get nostalgic. She got crafty.
Wanting to find a new use for them, she began digging through online archives for the 1950s and 1960s craft magazines she remembered seeing on her grandmother’s shelves. She stumbled on a 1965 Workbasket Magazine article that suggested frying them, a kooky idea with beautiful results — the inside of the glass orbs shatter and crackle from the heat while maintaining their smooth exterior. She began using them as anchors for unique jewelry creations she sold at weekend art and craft shows, and not long after found a small cottage in downtown Sylvania where she opened a retail establishment to showcase her wares, which she named Fried Marbles.
She intended it to be a fun hobby she’d keep going for a little extra money when her day job credentialing physicians was eliminated three weeks before Fried Marbles’ July grand opening. It’s since become her full-time passion, and while she sells physical accouterments, it’s inner beauty she’s focused on. “I have a desire to not let young girls live like a fried marble — paying more attention to the outside than they do the inside,” Burghardt says. “I hope to attract young girls and pass that message along to them.” A single mom herself, Burghardt has donated her creations to the local support organization Mom’s House, and aims to give encouragement to ladies young and old who stop by her shop for a ring, bracelet or home accessory. “It can be a fun bauble with no meaning if you want it to be,” Burghardt says, “but for me it has a deeper meaning.”
Fried Marbles, 5727 N. Main St., Sylvania (behind Dragonfly Tea Cottage). Open Tuesday thru Saturday, 10am-3pm. 419-350-4366. www.friedmarbles.net or facebook.com/friedmarbles1. Accessories range from $5 for a marble to $85 for sterling silver pieces.
When Cindy Burghardt found the bag of marbles her college-aged son had abandoned, she didn’t just get nostalgic. She got crafty.
Wanting to find a new use for them, she began digging through online archives for the 1950s and 1960s craft magazines she remembered seeing on her grandmother’s shelves. She stumbled on a 1965 Workbasket Magazine article that suggested frying them, a kooky idea with beautiful results — the inside of the glass orbs shatter and crackle from the heat while maintaining their smooth exterior. She began using them as anchors for unique jewelry creations she sold at weekend art and craft shows, and not long after found a small cottage in downtown Sylvania where she opened a retail establishment to showcase her wares, which she named Fried Marbles.
She intended it to be a fun hobby she’d keep going for a little extra money when her day job credentialing physicians was eliminated three weeks before Fried Marbles’ July grand opening. It’s since become her full-time passion, and while she sells physical accouterments, it’s inner beauty she’s focused on. “I have a desire to not let young girls live like a fried marble — paying more attention to the outside than they do the inside,” Burghardt says. “I hope to attract young girls and pass that message along to them.” A single mom herself, Burghardt has donated her creations to the local support organization Mom’s House, and aims to give encouragement to ladies young and old who stop by her shop for a ring, bracelet or home accessory. “It can be a fun bauble with no meaning if you want it to be,” Burghardt says, “but for me it has a deeper meaning.”
Fried Marbles, 5727 N. Main St., Sylvania (behind Dragonfly Tea Cottage). Open Tuesday thru Saturday, 10am-3pm. 419-350-4366. www.friedmarbles.net or facebook.com/friedmarbles1. Accessories range from $5 for a marble to $85 for sterling silver pieces.
