When did you first become interested in glass?

It is hard to pinpoint. I have always been around glass. My mother collected antique glass and we visited the glass factories in West Virginia, museums, etc. as I grew up. My love of working with glass was sparked/melted in on one of my first dates with my husband. We visited Corning Museum of Glass Studio's Open house. I got to blow an ornament and make my first bead in 1997. The rest was history.

What do you like best about what you do?

It is relaxing with immediate results. You cannot hurry glass. You have to let the flame and glass take control. Then you immediately form/build the item.

Is there a pattern in the way you select materials? In the way you use color, texture or light?

I am not sure if I have a pattern per se, but I know when I am drawn to use certain colors. At times, I like to pull out my glass catalog and peruse the color rods. Then I am usually drawn to try certain color combinations.

What inspires you? How are your inspirations expressed in your work?

I love nature, flowers, gardening, the sea, etc. I believe if you look at my work, you can see this expressed in my grape theme beads, flower beads, aquarium and fish beads. I am constantly cutting out pictures/photos of nature for inspiration.

How much time is spent creating your pieces?

To develop a new style of bead takes some time. For example, my basic grape theme bead concept took 4 weeks of trials/experiments. The actual bead itself now takes about 1 hour torch time, plus 24 hours kiln time, plus 1 hour preparation (building stringers, etc) and cleaning bead at end, before the bead is even put into a design. For my larger aquarium beads (used in wine stoppers, etc), much more preparation is needed to build the latticinos, stringers, and murrines. Plus torch time can be 1-2 hours of torch time. Also, practice, practice, practice time...

What are your techniques and style and how do these relate to the medium?

My techniques involve the Italian lampworking/flameworking techniques of encasing, stringers, latticinos, and murrine building. Encasing involves layers of glass (usually clear glass) to "encase" or trap items in glass. This gives my aquarium beads the depth. I embellish my beads using stringers, latticinos, and murrines. Stringers are thin/pull "strings" of glass. Latticinos are various twisted rods/strings glass. Murrines are cross sections/slices of glass designs. My style combines these techniques to give depth and my use of high contrasting/complementary colors enhances this.

What do you find most challenging about your work in the glass arts?

The most challenging thing about my work is acceptance of glass lampworking as an art. Currently there are so many "mass-produced" beads out there. Some are quite good. So folks think of glass lampworking as a craft. As a glass lampworker, I am constantly educating people on the art and also working to refine/expand/build my skill set to the next level.

How did you find Etsy? What do you like most about it?

I found Etsy by searching the web for glass lampworking and happened upon several shops on Etsy. I enjoy the helpful nature and environment of Etsy. The forums and convos are helpful and great exchange of ideas (artists helping artists). Great concept and great Etsyians!