A piece starts with a gather of hot glass, glowing red on the end of a blowpipe. The expanding bubble inside the piece stretches and thins the glass. After transferring the piece onto a pontil rod, Paul shapes it further on the workbench. There he can open the mouth of the piece using jacks or twist its color into swirls with pliers. The continuous thread in the process is rotation.
Constant rotation creates symmetry in hot glass just as a potter's wheel does to clay.
The glass blower said he has gleaned information on glass blowing techniques and tools from modern translations of ancient writings. For inspiration, Paul draws from Alaska nature, introducing aurora-like swirls into a vase or fireweed pinks and greens into a candle bowl.