Lampworked Glass Marbles by Paul J. Stankard

Stankard, whose driving desire was to "be on the creative side", started producing glass paperweights in his garage while working in industry to support his growing family. It was when Stankard displayed his early paperweights at a craft exhibit on the boardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ, that Reese Palley, an internationally respected art dealer, saw his work and sponsored Stankard financially to move full time into making glass art.

In the early 1960s, paperweights made by other American paperweight makers showcased brightly colored "crafty" type flowers that were not botanically accurate. Stankard labored to make his glass floral designs look more natural and botanically life-like. His glass flowers were so real looking that many people mistakenly thought that he had found a way to encase actual flowers in glass. Soon thereafter, paperweight makers (mostly American) were following Stankard's lead.

Stankard, who is now an internationally acclaimed artist, is largely credited with changing the status of glass paperweights from that of “craft” to that of “fine art”. Among many other museums, Stankard's work is exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France; the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England; and The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.

Above biographical information from Wikipedia.

Paul is assisted in the studio by David Graeber and his three daughters: Katherine Stankard Campbell, Christine Stankard Kressley and Pauline Stankard Iacovino.