The thing about glass is that it is just that, glass.  Glass is not dirt, not metal, not oil or soy based, doesn't grow green from the earth, it's not mixed with egg yolk or bird poo to color it, and it's not new by any means.  Glass is magical, glass is a solid when cold, gooey liquid when hotter than lava, glass transmitts light, glass bends and obscurs light, glass can even focus light to a burning pinpoint or reflect it back at you, glass is old.  I try to keep the unique and wonderful properties of glass in mind when I create; I try to embrace them and allow them to be present in my work.  I want the glassiness of the material to always come through regardless of color, form, size, meaning, or whatever else might take away from the material.  For me this cannot be accomplished in the hotshop alone.  As much as glass begs to be sculpted, inflated, and poured, it also begs to be ground, polished, and engraved.  My process involves a lot of cold work, whether rough engraving with stone and diamond wheels on the lathe or fine engraving using handheld rotary tools, I find a completeness of process in coldworking and finishing.  My work is influenced by the incredible history of glass and almost mythical figures that brought it from the ancient deserts to Renaissance Italy and finally to the American Studio Movement in the mid 1960's.  My work is influenced by the material, color, patterns and textures, as well as the natural world.