About Me
I was always creative from early on and have tried my hand at a number of arts and crafts.  Knitting and sewing as a child. Then painting and drawing at school, but I never saw it as an option for me as a career.  I left school and went into office work, but continued to create.  Macramé,  pastels,  water colours,  tassel making using traditional techniques on a wooden former amongst others.  

In the 1980's I started an evening class in china painting.  Wanting to take this further, I took a two year part time course in  the art of painting on china and porcelain,  The  colour theory and design principals  I learnt on this course,  I now apply to making beads.  I was then kept  busy for about fifteen years with commissions and several successful exhibitions of my work. 

Then a back injury led to six weeks enforced idleness, during this time my husband brought home a big bag of beads to keep the boredom away.  It's a short walk from sewing tiny beads together to making them.   It was in the very hot summer of 2006 a friend dared me to take a bead making course at a local adult education college.  I had  watched a demonstration and was given a go several years before, but could not get over the "fire" in front of me.  On the course, we covered all the health and safety aspects of working with a torch and basic bead making and glass control.  After that, I was hooked and soon progressed to oxygen-propane mix torch.
Apart from that days course, I am self taught.  There is lots of information available on the web or in books and after that it's just a matter of practice.

So, that's how I ended up in a little green shed at the bottom of the garden, happily making beads



About Lampwork Beads


All my beads are shaped in the flame on a stainless steel mandrel and  when formed, put into a hot kiln to anneal them.  The annealing process takes several hours and then  the beads are left in the kiln overnight to cool.   They are removed from the kiln and left on the mandrel to soak in some warm water.  This helps releases the bead  from the mandrel.  Each bead is then cleaned with a diamond reamer to get rid of any residual bead release.     

I use several types of glass including, effetre, vetrofond, Lauscha and CIM.  Sometimes I will add dichroic glass, silver, gold leaf and cubic zirconas to enhance the design.

Annealing the beads in this way gives them strength and with the right treatment they will last a lifetime.  However, they are made of glass and will not stand up to harsh or abusive treatment.  Normal, everyday wearing of beads in jewelery  or as decorative items will not harm them.

Beads can  be affected overtime by sprays such as hairspray, perfume, deodorant etc, which builds up on the surface and discolours them.  Always put sprays on before you put on your jewelery.  If they do start to look dirty or discoloured, a gentle rub over with a damp cloth will freshen them up again.