Something to Try

Hey, maybe I'll try one of these soon.



Stay tuned. I have a feeling I'll have some material for a new installment of Beads Gone Bad when I do.

Featured on The Beading Gem's Journal

The Beading Gem's Journal has become a place where I regularly browse for design inspiration, and now one of my pieces is being featured there. Go check it out!

Beauty from Chaos

The creative process is different for everyone, I suppose. For me, a little chaos in the beginning often gets the ball rolling when I'm making jewelry. Would you like to see my jewelry creation station?


Actually, I'm not alone. I've seen much worse. Some of the beads on my bead board have been there for years, but when I sit down to create a piece it helps me to have lots of shapes and colors from which to draw. I usually end up running to the bead store downtown to pick up a few beads and spacers that I need to complete my project.

Today I put together a bracelet from the dotty beads I made earlier in the week. This bracelet is for a friend who is fighting a fierce battle right now. I can't be with her to stand by her side in person, but I hope she'll wear this, feel its weight on her wrist and know that she is strong. I hope it will also remind her that God is with her and loves her and so do I.

How Did I Start This?

So, how did I get interested in lampworking, you ask? What's that? You didn't ask? That's okay, I'm happy to tell you anyhow.

Several years ago I saw Deanna Griffin Dove demonstrating her lampworking on the Lynette Jennings show. Until then it had never even occurred to me that people actually made glass beads. I guess I just thought they were made in factories with fancy equipment, or maybe I just really didn't think of it at all. When I saw one being made by Deanna I was intrigued. I really thought I'd like to do that myself but I thought it seemed too complicated, and I wouldn't even begin to know where to start with something like that, so I didn't think much more about it.

Later, a friend of mine, a fellow homeschooling mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and at one point during her fight a bunch of us from our circle of friends decided to show our support by creating a big beautiful string of beads for her. Jan was a bead lover, and several of us remembered getting beads from her at one of our weekend gatherings. Each of us contributed a bead or two to string together. I remembered the lampwork bead I'd seen on the show before and wished I could make something beautiful like that for Jan. Instead I made two very amateurishly, yet lovingly, done polymer clay beads, and enjoyed making them so much I was determined that I would find a way to learn to make glass beads. I took a class for beginners, bought some equipment to start, and I was on my way.

Jan lost her fight with breast cancer, but her life still touches mine today, and lampworking is just one of the ways.

So, I'm lampworking because I've been inspired by others. My lampworking changes and grows as a result of still more inspiration from others, and maybe they don't even know how they've inspired me. Everything we do sends ripples out into the lives of others, and here I am sharing a couple of ripples with you. Maybe now you'll be inspired to try something new too.