Lampwork Beads

If you are visiting my website that you are probably somewhat familiar with the term "lampwork" beads.  When I tell people I meet that I make lampwork beads, most people have no idea what that means.  No, I don’t make lampshades with beads. 

Each year a growing number of people are being exposed to the art of lampwork beads and truly appreciate all the time and artistry that goes into creating each unique piece of art. It is a real challenge to translate your vision of what you want the bead to look like and have it actually come out of the kiln to match that vision! 

I was invited to demonstrate lampwork bead-making along with several other lampwork artists at Cal State Fullerton earlier this year.  They had a glass expo with demonstrations in hot glass, casting, fusing and lampworking.  What a great event!  There were glass artists from all over California demonstrating their specialties.  It was a wonderful weekend.  We had so much fun. 

You may see my beads at San Gabriel Bead Company.  Kelly, the owner is very supportive of Southern California bead-makers and carries the beads of quite a few different artists in her store in San Gabriel, CA. 

To make a lampwork bead, you need a torch to melt the glass, mandrels on which to wind the melted glass and form the bead holes, bead release, a kiln to “bake” the glass in after it has become a bead and, of course, the glass.

Now that sounds easy enough, but it is only the beginning.  There are so many tools that you can use to squish, poke, bend and maneuver the glass into the shape that you want it to become and the frits, enamels, foils, etc that you can get to expand your creativity, WELL ... your choices are almost endless.  

The picture above shows me at the torch melting the glass around a “mandrel.  A mandrel is a metal stainless steel rod that the glass is wound around.   The bead release is a clay mixture that coats the mandrel and allows the bead to release from the rod.  Otherwise it would stick to the mandrel.  Once you have the bead shaped the way you want, then you put it into a Kiln, which is a small “oven”.  The beads anneal in the kiln at a certain temperature for approximately 30 minutes.  This allows the molecules of the glass to bond together and produces a strong bead that, hopefully, will be around for the next 500 years or longer.

I hope you enjoy my beads as much as I enjoy creating each of them. Those pictured on this web site are one-of-a-kind. If you have something in mind that has already been sold, please email me with the item number about producing more for you.

Beads are classified into groups to help you find what you're looking for more easily.

Click on the image to see each collection

Focal Beads

Bead Sets