Handmade in Chesapeake, Virginia

Tiny worlds,made in glass.

Meet Ann Wierbinski—the hands, heart, and very hot torch behind Ann’s Things. Intricate murrini. Joyful beads. A lifetime of tiny details.

Explore Ann’s work Let the cabinet choose

2.9kEtsy sales

5.0 average rating

14years on Etsy

A cluster of Ann’s sea-themed lampwork beads with tiny pictures set inside

Ann Wierbinski working at a lampwork torch

Made one by oneat Ann’s home torch

Scroll to wander

Picture murrini✦Floral beads✦Marbles✦Sea creatures✦Custom requests✦Tutorials

The work / 01

Take a closer look.Closer still.

Fish, flowers, monsters, butterflies, and the occasional tiny eyeball—Ann builds each image in hot glass, then draws it down to a slice small enough to rest on your fingertip.

A tiny glass glossary

What on earth is murrini?

Think of a picture that runs all the way through a stick of glass. The image is assembled at full size, heated, stretched into a long cane, and sliced into small chips—each one holding the same tiny scene.

Ann makes hers for fellow lampworkers and enamel artists to set into their own work.

A close-up orange butterfly murrini chip on a fingertip

As small as 4–6 mm

Ann Wierbinski smiling during a lampwork demonstration

Meet Ann / 02

It started withminiature orange slices.

Long before glass, there was polymer clay. In 1986 Ann began making miniature orange slices with clay murrini, selling her miniature work at the same dollhouse shows where her parents sold tiny furniture.

Then came her first glass class in November 2011. Wednesdays at the Lorton Workhouse Art Center became a ritual. A home studio followed. So did the irresistible question: if she could build a picture in clay, could she do it in glass?

She could—and then some. After 30 years as a registered nurse, Ann retired, moved from Northern Virginia to the Virginia Beach area, and made the torch her full-time work.

“I am so very blessed to be able to spend my time doing what I love!”
— Ann Wierbinski

Read Ann’s Glass Dragons feature

1986Miniature orange slices in polymer clay

2011First lampwork glass class

TodayFull-time artist in Chesapeake, VA

Ann, turned all the way up / 03

Precision meetspure play.

Ann Spirek-Wierbinski is meticulous enough to hold a frog inside a 4-millimeter chip—and playful enough to make the frog in the first place. Her world is bright, funny, generous, and never short on one more thing to try.

Favorite colorBrightgreen.

Not moss. Not sage. The kind of green that enters the room before you do.

Ann’s tiny bright-green frog murrini resting on a fingertip

The whole frog fits in 4–6 mm

Make the weird little thing

Eyeballs. Ghosts. Jellyfish. Joy.

Flowers and butterflies share Ann’s bench with frogs, monsters, tombstones, turkeys, mushrooms, sea creatures, and whatever else sounds fun that day.

Care is part of the craft

A steady hand—and an open one.

Before full-time glass, Ann spent 30 years as a registered nurse. Now makers return for the clean detail, reliable quality, and warm service reflected across hundreds of shop reviews.

“Come along and have fun trying your hand at this cute ghost!”
— Ann, inviting viewers into a 2024 tutorial

Field notes from Ann’s bench / 04

The studio hasits own language.

Heat, timing, tiny measurements, and a stubborn sense of fun. These are not invented brand values—they are the habits Ann has shared in demonstrations, tutorials, and years of making in public.

Ann evenly heating a large picture-murrini gather at her torch

At Ann’s torch

Torch-side inventory

Big heat. Very small pictures.

For a large picture-murrini gather, Ann works between substantial stainless-steel punties and brings the whole form to an even heat. The equipment is serious. The result can sit on a fingertip.

Flame: Carlisle Hellcat torch
Hands: Large stainless-steel punties
Clear: Zephyr around the picture

Keep the connection warm.

A life in tiny pictures

The orange slices came first. The curiosity never left.

Ann’s public trail is less a straight line than a growing collection of things worth trying.

011986
Orange slicesClay murrini and miniature foods
022011
First flameAnn’s first lampwork class
032018
Smiley facePublished murrini tutorial
042020
SnowflakeA second published murrini tutorial
052021
Fish pullCommunity demonstration
062024
Ghost seasonSoft glass and boro experiments
072026
Still playingBees, mushrooms, and jellyfish

One maker leaves room for the next

Her work is meant to keep moving.

Ann’s murrini become ingredients in other lampworkers’ and enamel artists’ work. Her own jewelry begins with beads and pendants she makes at the torch. The object changes hands; the tiny picture keeps traveling.

Find a tiny picture Learn at Ann’s torch

The process / 05

Layer. Heat. Marver.Repeat.

Picture murrini is part engineering, part drawing, and part knowing exactly when the glass is ready to move.

Ann encasing a fish murrini gather with clear glass

Build the picture

Eyes, mouth, fins, color, then the thinnest possible layer of clear—assembled carefully so every detail stays true.

Ann heating a large murrini gather at the torch

Find the heat

The whole gather must heat evenly. Too much pressure can smear the picture; the glass has to move without losing its story.

A fish murrini gather ready to be smoothed and drawn down

Pull, cool, slice

The gather is drawn into a long cane—faster for smaller, slower for larger—then cooled and sliced into tiny matching pictures.

Ann shared this fish-murrini method in a 2021 Glass Dragons demonstration. Her practical rule: layer, heat, marver—and repeat.

From Ann’s bench to yours

Made for makers.And made for joy.

Most of Ann’s current shop is COE 104 picture murrini—ready for lampworkers and enamel artists. Her wider practice also includes handmade beads, pendants, jewelry, marbles, figurines, and custom requests when time allows.

Star SellerCustom requests welcome683 shop reviews

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