I became captivated by glass...

Once upon a time I was captivated by glass… the rest is history.

I can remember when I was quite young, going a theme park like Branson’s Silver Dollar City and watching the glassblowers make swans and horses and flowers. I would stand there for what seemed like forever, transfixed and mesmerized by it all. It felt like magic to see a flower inside the middle of a clear globe of glass. How did they DO that? To this day I am still just as captivated and curious to try and unravel the mystery of glass. It never gets old and I never tire of it.

Before hot glass, I was a website designer by trade and had quite a few creative hobbies. One of my hobbies was mosaicing with found objects and glass. One day my glass supply started to run low – We quickly found a local shop that would sell us some scrap. The owner and I got to chatting and he told me he made glass beads. I was curious so I asked to see them. “Wow,” I said, “these are neat. how is this done?” – In that moment, that same feeling that I had watching the glassblowers washed over me and I was captivated.

I started working on his website and spending a lot of time at his shop taking pictures of his beads and learning about the trade. Destiny is a tricky thing – A few months after I started working for him, I took a 2 hour beginner bead class and was completely smitten. It was literally one of the best feelings ever. After that one experience on the torch, I lived and breathed glass. I was completely hooked and before I knew what was happening, was hanging up my hat as a web girl and throwing my all into glass. I had a fully-functioning bead making studio by year 2 and was well on my way. That was 11, almost 12 years ago.

Going forward a few years… over time and since glass is so intense, I find the need for occasional breaks. (My longest was 2 years) I seem to cycle on and off about every 2-3 years. I take breaks anywhere between 6-9 months at a time and pour myself into other creative things like metal etching and of course mosaic, still. This seems to reset my mojo. Every artist needs that from time to time, I think.

When I’m not working on glass or metal etching I make jewelry and do metalsmithing. I love to cut and form and shape metal. It’s very satisfying and scratches an itch that glass just can’t. I also work with metal clay. I love being able to form clay into a wearable piece of metal art. It’s kind of amazing, really.


Some of my other creative endeavors include painting, gardening, raising monarch butterflies, decorating our house, making clothes for the dogs (lol I’m kind of terrible at it but I persist) and drawing. I recently got a tablet that I adore and spend a fair bit of time illustrating cartoons about life with my family. I mostly draw my crazy dogs. There is never a loss for material with those two around.

Violet and Harper keep me super busy and we take long walks daily. We like to head up to Springdale (a very large, local cemetery that houses over 70,000 inhabitants) and get lost in nature. They’re both really good girls and when I’m not makin’ stuff I like being with them.

What else can I tell you? I’m married to a wonderful human being that I adore with my whole heart. We live in Peoria, IL in an old, 100 year Colonial-style house that we are renovating and loving back to her former glory. The house alone has been an epic adventure. We have big gardens and an even bigger yard that keeps us very busy. Life is never dull, that’s for sure.

I hope to someday have my very own pottery studio (along side the glass one of course, I will never give up glass) complete with a small farm comprised of a few chickens, a couple goats and a beehive or 10. A girl can dream right? ❤

Well, that’s about all I can think of for now. Thanks for swinging by. Hope you enjoyed your stay!

Namaste