Chihuly-inspired ornaments make great gifts

"It's just a very nice project for families," Marqusee said of the easy to make ornaments she first introduced to children at art camp. "No piece will be alike."

Chihuly's large, twisting, intricate glass works have been displayed like giant Christmas tree ornaments in floating in pools of water, suspended from towering ceilings and perched in gardens.

"A lot of his glass pieces resemble animals in the ocean," said Marqusee, who recently demonstrated how to make Chihuly ornaments with education assistant Noelle Vondrak.

What you need:

• Clear, hard plastic wine glasses and or plates
• Oven
• Cookie sheet
• Transparent glass paint
• Glitter
• Metallic markers
• Hot glue gun
• Fishing line
• Paint brushes

STEP 1: Heat an oven to 300-325 degrees F. Stack your glasses and plates on a cookie sheet. Be sure the plastic isn't hitting the oven's coils. In a small oven, Marqusee laid a small wine glass on its side atop a plate.

STEP 2: Closely watch your ornament as you heat it for 1 to 1.5 minutes. Open the oven and use the tongs to manipulate the plastic if you wish.

STEP 3: Remove the ornament from the oven and allow it to cool. "The beauty is once it comes out of the oven it cools very quickly and you can immediately start work on them," Marqusee said.

STEP 4: Paint your ornament. Marqusee recommends using a damp brush and painting in thin layers. "It's up to you how translucent you want it," she said.

STEP 5: While the paint is still wet, sprinkle a little glitter on top of your ornament if you wish.

STEP 6: After the paint has dried, use a metallic marker to personalize the ornament with your family name, the year, circles, snowflakes etc.

STEP 7: Run a piece of fishing line in-between the ornament's empty spaces to create a loop to hang it up.

STEP 8: If you made multiple ornaments and wish to glue them together, do that now with a hot glue gun. You could also place fishing line to hang the ornament between the pieces before gluing them together.