I'm Jill - and I confess - I've been smitten by glass in all its forms for over two decades now. : )

This process of manipulating glass for my bead making is called Lampworking which is a type of modern day glasswork that uses a torch to melt the glass. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses the oil-fueled lamps/bellows. I use a Lynx torch by GTT - it combines propane (red hose) and oxygen (green hose) to give me a flame hot enough to melt soft glass (think Murano, Italy), and make nicely sized beads from hard glass as well (Borosilicate - aka Pyrex).

I have spent countless hours at the torch, learning mostly by trial & lots of errors. I sold exclusively on eBay for my first eight years, then decided to sell through my website. My intent was to make Wednesdays a day for everyone to eagerly anticipate.

To accomplish this, each week on Wednesday at 9pm EST, I refresh a page called  Weekly Wednesday. This page holds most recent work from my studio that is available for purchase.  My working toward this goal helps ideas evolve quickly & keep the offerings here fresh & unusual. 

My time living in Germany and the subsequent importing of Lauscha German glass has given me a fondness of this brand of super clear and slightly stiffer lampworking glass…

Once the rods of glass have been heated to the consistency of cold honey, I wind this onto a mandrel *(a stainless steel stick coated with a ceramic bead release) From there - the winding, surface tension, gravity and manipulation by tools or presses give the bead its ultimate shape. Once I’m satisfied, it quickly goes into a preheated kiln (I have a Paragon Bluebird XL) where the temperature hovers around 1000 degrees until I’m finished making beads for the day - then its computer starts a lengthy pre-programmed annealing schedule. This allows the bead to slowly cool over the course of many hours. Stresses within a bead are released through annealing - since glass cools from the outside first… this slow temperature ramp down & pauses at important stress/strain temps allow for the bead to become stable. Otherwise, without proper annealing - the beads are often prone to cracks.