THOUSANDS of enthusiasts flocked to Stourbridge last weekend to experience a taste of the International Festival of Glass.

More than 3,000 visitors from as far afield as Belgium, Hungary, Mexico and the USA assembled in the town’s glass quarter for the internationally renowned extravaganza.

Exhibitions, masterclasses, lectures and family activities all featured in the four-day feast, where the highlight saw Egyptian born artist Ashraf Hanna take home the headline prize at the British Glass Biennale awards evening.

Other pieces in the free Biennale exhibition, which runs until June 28 at the Ruskin Glass Centre, includes a huge glass hammer, giant spectacles, glass fossils, glass coral, a glass rat trap, an all-white table set for afternoon tea and a glass nude.

Elisabeth Johnson, festival coordinator, said: “The festival was a resounding success. We catered for all tastes from specialist collectors and established glass artists, to students, families and those new to the world of glass.

“I’m really proud of the team for pulling together such a varied and exciting programme. Adding poetry to the mix was a new dimension and it went down incredibly well.

“I hope that our local visitors in particular return to see the exhibitions and breadth of the activities we offer throughout the year at our free venue.”

Another hit of the festival was a wall of 180 glass postcards made by members of the Contemporary Glass Society, which featured – among others – buxom beach beauties bounding across the sands, happy penguins diving into the ocean, an exotic flamenco dancer complete with red glass ruffles and a forlorn looking bear just reaching out for a hug.

Almost all of the unique pieces on display at the Ruskin Glass Centre was sold by the close of the festival, with a few still available to buy until the exhibition closes on June 28.

Other highlights included child-sized puppet workshops where visitors of all ages could wear their characters and walk around the site, glamorous princesses Crystal and Chandelier who entertained the little ones with high-brow chatter on high stilts, an emergency poet – complete with ambulance – for urgent problems only poetry could cure, as well as lots of entertainment, live music and spoken word.

The celebrity doodles project was a huge hit, with artists transforming acrylic sheet doodles by the likes of Lenny Henry, Emma Thompson, Robert Plant and Steve Bull into original works of art.

But most of all, the festival gave international glass artists and collectors a chance to attend masterclasses and lectures, where they could share their skills and experiences with each other, as well as discover new approaches and trends in the medium.

However, visitor numbers were much lower than the previous 2012 festival, which saw more than 7,000 people through the gates.

The festival coordinator puts the decline in visitors down to the bad weather which arose during the weekend, as well as moving the festival to May instead of its usual August slot.

Elisabeth added: “Visitor numbers were down on previous years, but I think that was due to the weather. We had a great number of visitors through the doors on Saturday which coincided with a bit of sunshine.

“Previous festivals have been held in August when the weather was much better, so we will now have to discuss the dates of future events with our partners.”

For more information about the ongoing exhibition programme at Stourbridge Glass Quarter museums, visit www.ifg.org.uk