Colin or I create a paperweight like this Spring Tree by first forming a colored base, then adding clear glass to it and shaping the mass to form a core on which we "draw," one branch and leaf at a time. Drawing with glass is like drawing with a crayon ... a very hot crayon!

We begin by selecting the colored glass rods ("stringers") we will need for the drawing. Some of these are solid colors, like the ones we will use for leaves on this paperweight or for the coral or the fish on a Coral Reef paperweight. We make other rods with two or more colors. For example, the trunks and branches of a tree have two-tone brown stripes. We make each of these rods by melting walnut-sized pieces of colored glass and stretching them.

Drawing takes a long time -- sometimes as much as two hours or more on a paperweight with many internal layers. During that time, the work must be kept hot, or else it will crack. We draw in one-minute bursts of activity, after which we have to take the work back to the glory hole and reheat it. Sometimes, when we are each working simultaneously on drawing projects, it can get crowded in front of the glory hole!

We melt a stringer in the flame of an oxy-propane torch and paint with the molten color. It hardens instantly once it is out of the flame. We can create a complex pattern to simulate tree bark by using a two-tone stringer and then twisting it as we draw. (Click on the picture to take a close-up look.) We can also vary the width of a line dynamically by stretching the stringer in the flame as we draw.

A paperweight is a three-dimensional canvas, so we have to think about how balanced and complete the drawing will appear as the viewer rotates it. Because glass is transparent, we am also always aware that the viewer will see part of the drawing from the "back" side. Finally, in a multi-layered design, we know that the viewer will be seeing some of the drawing through other layers. Drawing with glass poses great challenges, but also offers wonderful creative opportunities.