I am lucky enough to live in the heart of the English Lake District (or "the middle of Nowhere", as my kids call it!). My beads are handmade in my tiny home studio, drawing inspiration mainly from the landscapes and natural forms around us. Many aeons ago, I studied Metallurgy at university. I decided pretty quickly that I wasn't ever destined for a career in the subject (it didn't help that anyone I ever mentioned it to at parties first asked what it was and then went to talk to someone else!).
After a few years in book printing/binding, some travel and several children, I started painting fabric. I made batik children's clothes, then branched out to other textiles - velvet, felt and embroidered pieces. I enjoyed it but felt that the result was somehow impermanent, not solid enough.
A few years evening classes in silversmithing gave me the opposite feeling. I found the silver too rigid, not fluid enough. I wanted to fold and swirl, to move the metal around and create soft, flowing shapes. I feel that glass has given me that happy medium between these two extremes. Its combination of solidity and fluidity is unique and fascinating. I have also found that inner chemist creeping out again too, with a desire to know more about the colour chemistry of glass and how different additives react to form amazing effects.
I work mainly with borosilicate glass. I love the textures and colours achievable with this type of glass and really enjoy learning about and trying to understand the processes behind the colour reactions. This glass has opened up a new world for me, one which may take a very, very long time to explore - but I look forward with pleasure to the journey.