Hindu devotees, their cheeks pierced with metal rods, wait to participate in a religious procession during Thaipusam festival in Chennai, India, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Thaipusam, celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. (Photo by Arun Sankar K./AP Photo)

A child looks up to his partner as she stands above the crowd with the support of an elaborate rig of hidden metal rods, during the Bun Festival parade at Cheung Chau island in Hong Kong on May 22, 2018. Thousands of local residents and tourists flocked to an outlying island in Hong Kong to celebrate a local bun festival on Tuesday despite the recording-breaking heat. (Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters)

A child watches as an adult poses for a photograph while holding a Thompson AR-15 rifle, which is inscribed with the likeness of former US President Donald Trump at the Tommy Gun Warehouse during the annual Rod of Iron Freedom Festival in Greeley, Pennsylvania, 07 October 2023. The festival is one of the the largest open carry festivals celebrating the 2nd Amendment in North America. (Photo by Will Oliver/EPA)

A Hot air balloon is seen at the Cup Hot Air event during the Air Sports festival titled “70 Years of Peaceful Sky” in Minsk, Belarus July 18, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A devotee of the Chinese Jui Tui Shrine has his face pierced with metal rods during a street procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in the southern Thai town of Phuket on October 19, 2015. During the festival, which begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts nine days, religious devotees slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri/AFP Photo)

A Hindu devotee girl stands after getting her tongue pierced with a metal rod during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Thaipusam, which is celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. (Photo by Joshua Paul/AP Photo)

California-based glass artist Loren Stump specializes in a form of glasswork called murrine, where rods of glass are melted together and then sliced to reveal elaborate patterns and forms. While the murrina process appeared in the Mideast some 4,000 years ago, Stump has perfected his own technique over the past 35 years to the point where he can now layer entire portraits and paintings in glass before slicing them to see the final results. His most complex piece to date is a detailed interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks, which involved hundreds of glass components that were melted into a final piece.

A Hindu devotee is helped by other people as she walks on burning coals during a religious procession Vel Festival of the Hindu goddess Maha Mariamman (Sheetla Mata), in New Delhi, India, 06 April 2017. People get their bodies pierced with different kinds of metal needles and rods and participate in a religious procession as thanks giving gesture to the goddess in return of their fulfilled wishes during the annual procession. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA)