On Being A Glass Artist

I never considered myself an artist growing up because I did not enjoy traditional art classes. I liked to make 3-dimemsional objects. I loved to make funky plaster of Paris shapes and decorate them with glitter and feathers. Most of my drawings consisted of many different colors of crayons running together to make montages of color. In high school I dabbled in ceramics and batik but never pursed them formally.

In 1995 I was introduced to bead stringing by a friend. I became obsessed with making necklaces and took beginning and advanced bead-stringing lessons from a local bead store. As I continued to buy beads to string I kept coming across these wonderfully unique hand made glass beads. I kept asking people how they were made and was told they were made using a torch and rods of glass….well, I never thought I could do that. But I kept talking to people and learning about it. I rented videos from the library on glass bead making, read books and looked on the web. My husband and I moved up to the Cleveland area in 1997 and as fate would have it a woman that worked with my husband made glass beads. She was gracious enough to let me come over to her house and she showed me how to make a bead and took me to a stained glass store to purchase my kit. I was off and running (while my husband ran to the hardware store for a fire extinguisher)!

From that point I met many wonderfully talented artists in the greater Cleveland area who make glass beads and I have also joined the local Chapter of the society of glass beadmakers and attended their National conventions. I share my knowledge by teaching beginning bead making classes at a local art center and enjoy taking classes from more experienced artists around the country.

I have built on my love of glass by learning to fuse glass and work in stained glass. Most recently, I have been making glass knobs and kiln formed bracelets. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my work and strive for the highest quality of craftsmanship, durability and service. I now consider myself an artist and more specifically a colorist and still love to use the glass like crayons to create beautiful montages!