"In taking to glasswork and learning to capture these small, still moments of life, Melissa is discovering the most human of motivations: to create what was not there before. Melissa aims to push the limits of the paperweight, creating novel pieces which reflect her sense of the Nature--earthly, human and divine.

I consider the limitations imposed by the spherical shape of the paperweight to be very liberating in the sense that I am forced to reckon with the boundaries of the glass and develop new ideas, techniques and creative approaches for expanding those boundaries. The shape itself provides a structure from which I can evolve my own sense of creativity, ultimately aiming to evolve the art of paperweight making in general."