|
|
I love creating unique jewelry by combining my lamp worked
glass beads and / or fused glass I usually combine sterling
silver and / or gold to give each piece a finished professional
look when completing my jewelry. I have been designing jewelry
for over thirty years.
Current influences include a few Fort Worth glass artists,
one of them being Jennifer Naylor, noted for her lovely lampworked
fish beads along with numerous other designs. Another influence
comes from my garden. Many of my beads are fashioned to resemble
florals, some say certain ones resemble space junk, I just
enjoy the fantasy of the flame and the wonder of the kiln…leave
some of the intrigue to the wearer of the piece, after all,
art is in the eye of the beholder.
It all starts in my wonderfully over stuffed studio, where
I create the magical lamp worked beads. I melt glass rods
with a gas torch, forming the bead around a mandrel. Then,
I decorate the beads with different colors of thin glass stringers
and sometimes silver foil. When I am content with the results,
I place the bead in my annealer to relieve internal stresses
and strengthen the glass. The following day, I remove the
mandrels, and clean the bead holes. Then they are placed into
the ‘think tank’ for a while…
More fun begins as I make piles of accent beads to add to
the ‘think tank’ and decide what to create. My
jewelry is put together on gold-filled wire, sterling silver
wire, or the occasional neckpiece.
Finally, at the point of sale, my pieces are captured in little
treasure pouches and come to you in a nice presentation ready
to be coddled and loved by you. |
| Visit Shirley's website
to see more of her jewelry!
|
|
