Workshop with Alberto

So, a couple of weeks ago Bob surprised me with a workshop for my birthday.  On Sunday January 11th I headed to the Glass Shoppe to spend the day with Alberto Greselin.  He taught us the art of doing floral implosions.  Essentially, these are 3 dimensional flowers captured in glass.  They are so beautiful.  
It was a challenging class and the first time that I have ever worked off-mandrel.  Lots of challenging moments and some successes as well.  I learned a lot in this work shop.  At the end of the day Alberto did a final demonstration - a floral pendant - and it was beautiful.  I especially liked the effect of adding bubbles to the piece by impaling the molten glass onto a metal floral frog!  He very generously offered to put everyone's name in a hat and draw for the pendant and I won!!  Such a great day topped off with a lovely birthday gift.
Here it is: