Cloistered Botanical, "Mountain Laurel Bouquet". Colorless, transparent dark green (appearing black), polychrome opaque and translucent colors non-lead glasses (Schott colorless, Kugler and Italian color rods), Hextol adhesive; flameworked, encased, ground, polished, laminated. Short obelisk (with slightly curved top and sides) of solid colorless encasing a suspended elongated flower bouquet consisting of green foliage (with pointed leaves, topmost are longer and spotted) and tendrils surrounding three large white trumpet-shaped blossoms with exterior rim edged with small spheres--interior of green stigma and white with dark tipped anthers, at mid-point is a smaller yellow blossom with green and dark red pistil, lower half of bouquet filled with small blue blossoms with yellow centers; at base of bouquet numerous thin root tendrils of light brown and green hang down and are intertwined with tips fanning out; three long sides of the obelisk are laminated with a layer of dark green, long front side and top are not faced; square base tapers in slightly and is formed of two layers of green sandwiching a layer of colorless with narrow incised circumference; base ground an polished flat with wide circular ground an polished pontil; four small rubber feet at corners; along base edge of back side in script: "Paul J. Stankard E18 '93".

Paul Stankard has developed traditional paperweight-making techniques to create small-scale environments based on the natural world. His work is distinguished by his attention to botanical detail—his careful reproduction of not just one part of a plant or flower, but the entire plant system, including roots, dead leaves, and resident insects.