I was first introduced to these by my brother (you might want to check out his Victorian Furniture Blog) while on a family outing to a flea market, where he showed me some large floats hanging in a booth. I had no idea what they were, but he did from all his nautical artifacts research. As soon as he said they were Japanese I was hooked and started collecting them myself (all of which have subsequently been stolen, shucks). Pictured first is a large honey colored float approximately 14-1/3″ in diameter. This is at the top end of float sizes as the most common are usually around 3-1/2″ in diameter. Second is another large float approximately 13″ in diameter. This one has the legible kanji symbol for kita (north), the trademark of the Hokuyo Glass Company out of Aomori, Japan. Glass floats were traditionally made by melting down whatever spare glass you had around, which usually was old sake bottles, evident by the predominant color being aqua. Most were hand blown, with a glass button used to seal the hole, but there are also 2 and 3 piece molded floats. What I like most about floats is the found object aspect to their collection and all the evidence of the time spent floating around in the Pacific and rolling up on beaches. You can find them with or without their hempen nets that are used to secure them to the large drift nets they were attached to. Sometimes there is evident etching from their time spent in the sand (which sometimes is masked by the net, creating visually striking web-like patterns). And sometimes you can find barnacles affixed to the exterior, or even times where water has gotten inside through minor imperfections in the glass. Well, I just wanted to whet your whistle about these floats, I could go on and on about characteristics, but you can find it all out there floating on the ether called the web, much as how you might luckily find one of these lovely balls floating around.

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