The orbs come in a range of sizesfrom the size of a baseball to as large as a basketball.
They are hollow and are decorated with colorful swirling patterns.
Today, these spheres are made of plastic and aluminum, but they were once made of glass.
Glass floats were resistant to such abuse.
There were also lightweight, durable and lasted nearly forever in the sea environment.
Most floats are a shade of green because there were made of recycled sake bottles.
Less common are floats made of very pale amethyst glass.
Most authentic floats also have a trademark or a logo embossed in Japanese script.
But larger ones are hard to find.
Old fishing nets withglass floats hangingat a boathouse wall in Norway.
Photo credit: Ingrid Maasik / Shutterstock.com
Glass floats along with fishing net recovered in Norway.
Photo credit:glassfloats.blogspot.com
A glass float found on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
