About Me
Art Glass Lampwork Bead Maker & Jeweller
Hi, I'm Judith. I make art glass lampwork beads and silver jewellery. I live in the fabulous city of Brighton and Hove on the south coast of England.
I’ve been making jewellery since 1998 and lampwork beads since 2002. Over the years I have spent many hours locked in the studio at my torch, chasing the what if’s and the how can I’s, truly captivated by the joy of making beads.
LAMPWORK GLASS
I love the meditative process of melting glass in the flame. The depth and play of light on colour, the reflections and sparkle inherent in the glass, precious metals and cubic zirconia. Often exciting, equally frustrating, I love the unexpected, the reactions and the alchemy.
Even now I still find making beads as magical and enchanting as I did when I lit my first torch over 20 years ago.
LAMPWORK BEADS
Art glass lampwork beads are created using an oxygen and propane torch and molten glass. Rods of glass are melted in the flame using a special torch (the lamp) then the molten glass is wrapped around a thin steel mandrel to form a bead. The bead is worked from the centre out building up each layer with meticulous care and attention to detail. Some of the complex beads can take several hours to complete and often include inclusions of precious metals, cubic zirconia and murrini - tiny chips of glass containing pictures such as flowers, butterflies and fish.
Once the bead is finished it is placed in a digitally controlled kiln for annealing. This is the process of holding the hot glass at temperature to even out the heat in the piece before starting to slowly cool it. This means the glass will not have any stress from uneven heat and once cooled will be strong and durable.
While it is possible to repeat a particular design in molten glass the results will always vary. Some differences in design, shape, size and colour are intrinsic to the glass making process which means that each piece is unique to you and truly one of a kind.
Art Glass JEWELLERY
Once the lampwork glass beads are annealed, cooled and cleaned they can be used to make jewellery. Using traditional metal smith and wire wrapping techniques I combine precious metals with my beads, gemstones and pearls to create unique glass jewellery.
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