I make all of the free-standing elements for my paperweights and marbles, like anemone, octopi, and 3-D fish, over a small oxy-propane torch mounted on a workbench. Other glass workers use this sort of torch for making beads or decorative sculptures, or specialized scientific laboratory glassware.

The base glass I use is the same clear Spruce Pine glass that is in my large furnace. I add color, as I do in all of my glasswork, by melting in colored glass powders, frit (chips), or cane (rods). Many of the small torchworked elements I create are made entirely of colored glass. I usually start by making very thin cane (called stringers). These may be a single, solid color, or they may have layers of different colors and opacities. Some, called murrine, have intricate internal designs. I cut short pieces of murrine to make the most detailed parts of barnacles, sponges, and fish, like these.

Stringers can be stretched, twisted, and joined to each other in the flame. While the glass is molten, I can also dip it in powders or apply dots of molten glass of another color. I can also use a variety of tools like those by my right hand in this photo to flatten, smooth, or texture the surface of the molten glass.

Here's what a completed element can look like. This red octopus was built in several stages. The legs and the body were made as separate elements, then fused together. It is less than 1/2 inch across.