reudotlyn's Profile

Bio

“I'm putting all of my experiences together and giving them to you in the form of wearable art... my hope is for the purchaser to find a personal connection to my work, and enjoy wearing my jewelry, as much as I enjoyed making it.”

Linda Thomas (Lyn) attributes her success and drive to her parents, Reuben (Reu) and Dorothy (Dot) Billingslea. Hence, the name Reudotlyn sprung into action in 2002 when she established her business in dedication to her parents.
Linda is a self trained artist that has been working with glass for the past 24 years. She started out slumping beer, wine, and juice bottles as well as float glass on top of slumping molds. Then she went on to make small bowls that were slumped on ceramic and stainless steel molds. After experimenting with bottles and float glass for several years, she found a new craft.

She purchased a book on glass beads and taught herself a new technique that would ultimately became her therapy. “At that time my mother was in an induced coma. I would make a bead every night and take it to the hospital the next day and tell my mother that I started a new craft and that I was making glass beads. When my mother died I made her a rosary with blue and clear glass beads.”

Her designs have evolved from glass beads to fused glass jewelry. In 1999, she began making fused glass jewelry which consisted of wire wrapping, metal-smithing, glass fusing and agates. The intense colors in her work result from the use of combining a variety of dichroic glass, making each piece unique.

Linda was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Jones Commercial High School. She currently resides in Gary, Indiana with her husband and is the proud mother of four children.

You can find her at the Chesterton European Market, local art shows and the performing Art center in Munster, Indiana. Some of her accomplishments are being featured in the Region Section of the Post-Tribune (April, 2003) for performing a demo on glass bead making for the children at Fegely Middle School in Portage, Indiana and being a guest on Open Studio: Living in Michiana (December, 2007) featured in january 17, 2008.

Female, Born on December 16

Favorite Materials

glass