Petri Dish with Glass Inclusions, Used by Paul Stankard, 2010-2015

Paul Stankard, renowned paperweight artist of the Studio Glass movement, uses a technique called flame working to create what he calls "inclusions"--amazingly lifelike tiny flowers, insects, and even human figures made of glass. Stankard fashions these "inclusions" from commercially available rods of glass--a process perfected only after hours of trial and error. He then encases them into a glass mold, to produce a paperweight.