I blame my sister-in-law for taking me to a "make your own jewellery" shop many years ago.... thats where I caught the bead bug.
Those of you similarly afflicted will know what I mean..... there is something about collecting, arranging and rearranging beads into jewellery that becomes addictive - and soon you are hoarding little precious collections of beads and converting a room in your house to the cause.

Eventually I became curious about how beads were made. Then, a chance encounter with a lampworker at a fair convinced me that making your own beads was entirely feasible......
and hence the real monster was born. More rooms of the house over run, books and equipment imported and a few invaluable lessions from the aforementioned lampworker and a whole new obssession was born.

Lampworking is the process of heating glass rods to melting point using a flame torch and working them around a mandrel to produce a bead. There are a myriad of glass types, suppliers and colours, let alone techniques and experiments to keep one entertained at the torch for hours at a time.
And once you have produced the bead, there is the further joy of delving into the old bead collection to find matching beads and components to create a new piece of jewellery.

My basic principle in jewellery design is that I don't use any accent beads that I could make myself. Therefore the accent beads used are semi-precious stones, crystals and sterling silver, faceted glass and other treasures not achievable on the lampwrok torch. But these gorgeous wee accents act only as enhancement to the feature lampwork beads.

One final word on my beding style - over the years I have developed a technique whereby I used stainless steel links to string my beads in a rosary style. Many times stronger than the soft metal links generally provided for this purpose, the overall effect is a of lightweight and attractive piece of jewellery which is unobtrusively strong and durable.

All of my pieces are guaranteed for a lifetime - if there are any faults or problems, please return them to me for unconditional repair.
Each piece sold comes giftwrapped at no additional charge (unless a request to the contrary is made).
I take great pleasure in undertaking commissioned and bespoke designs on request, and wedding sets are a particular joy.

If you have any questions about lampworking or jewellery please contact me - its always fun to have contact with a fellow bead addict!!!

Shelley